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130 PEN PICTURES OF 
LIVE MEN 



130 PEN PICTURES 

OF 

LIVE MEN 



O. O. STEALEY 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 

1910 






Copynght. 1910, 
By O. O. STEALEY 



Publishers Printing Cokpant, Nkw Tosk 



CCI.A280037 



CONTENTS 



Henry Watterson 

Feux Agnus 

Milton E. Ailes 

Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich 

John M. Atherton 

Joseph W. Bailey . 

John H. Bankhead 

Edward W. Barrett 

John Barrett . 

Perry Belmont 

Albert J. Beveridge 

John C. Black 

Joe C. S. Blackburn 

Scott C. Bone 

William O. Bradlky 

WiLUAM J. Bryan 

Theodore E. Burton 

Captain C. C. Calhoun 

Joseph G. Cannon 

Andrew Carnf.gie . 

Thomas H. Carter 

John Breckinridge Castleman 

Champ Clark . 

Henry D. Clayton 

JuDSON C. Clements 

George B. Cortelyou 

Albert B. Cummins 

Glen-n H. Curtiss . 

John Dalzell . 

Chauncey M. Depew -v^ 

George Dewey 

Charles Dick . 

Stephen B. Elkins 

Charles W. Fairbanks 



\ 



PAGE 

7 

17 
21 

25 
31 

38 
43 
46 

49 
52 
55 
58 
61 

64 
67 
71 
78 
81 
88 

93 
96 
100 
103 
106 
108 
112 
116 
119 
122 
125 
130 

133 
136 
140 



[3] 



CONTENTS 

PARK 

William W. Finley 145 

Joseph W. Folk 148 

Joseph B. Foraker 151 

David R. Francis 154 

Henry C. Frick 157 

Charles Frohman 160 

Elbert H. Gary 164 

William J. Gaynor . . . 167 

Thomas Pryor Gore . . . y 171 

Charles H. Grasty . . tJ 174 

Simon Guggenheim . . N 177 

Bruce Haldeman . . .f 179 

William Burch Haldeman \i. 182 

John Marshall Harlan—* 186 

Judson Harmon 190 

Edwin Hawley 194 

James Thomas Heflin 197 

Hilary A. Herbert 199 

William B. Hibbs 202 

James J. Hill 206 

Frank H. Hitchcock 209 

Richmond Pearson Hobson 217 

Clark E. Howell 22c 

Stilson Hutchins 223 

Melville E. Ingalls 227 

Ollie James 231 

Ben Johnson 235 

Joseph F. Johnston 238 

Julius Kahn 241 

John Kean 244 

William Pitt Kellogg 247 

John W. Kern 255 

Philander C. Knox 258 

Robert M. LaFollette 261 

John E. Lamb 264 

Henry Cabot Lodge 267 

Nicholas Long worth 270 

William A. McAdoo 272 

James McCrea . , 275 

James B. McCreary 2781 

[4] 



CONTENTS 



y 



y 



" John R. McLean 

Norman E. Mack 

Martin B. Madden 
"■ George von Lengerke Meyer 

Gen. Nelson A. Miles 
~ Hernando D. Money 

J. Hampton Moore . . i^ 

"" J. PiERPONT Morgan v^ 

— Paul Morton — .■^' . 
Frank A. Munsey . 
Victor Mukdock 

" WiLUAM R. Nelson 

— Francis G. Newlands 
Frank B. Noyes 
Robert L. Owen 
Alton B. Parker 
Robert E. Peary . \ 
Samuel H. Piles 

GiFFORD PiNCHOT 

— Joseph Puutzer-^. 

— IsiDOR Raynor 

— Whitelaw Reid 
Herman Ridder 
Eddie G. Riogs 
P^dward p. Ripley 
John D. Rockefeller 

'-Theodore Roosevelt 
Elihu Root 
Thomas F. Ryan 
Winfield Scott Schley 

SWAGAR SheRLEY 

" Theodore P. Shonts 

Hoke Smith 

Marcus A. Smith . 

James Smith, Jr. 

Watson C. Squire . 

Augustus Owsley Stanley 

George W. Stevens 

Melville E. Stone 
. William J. Stone . 



^ 



[5] 



281 
286 
289 
294 
298 
302 

305 
308 

311 
314 

317 
320 

323 
326 

329 

332 

335 

Zl^ 

341 

344" 

350 

353 

357 

361 

364 
367 
370 
371 
378 
381 
384 
387 
390 
393 
396 

399 
406 
409 
412 
415 



CONTENTS 



William Sulzer 
Claude A. Swanson j'. . 
William H. Taft "-t 
Thomas Taggart 
Joseph Frederick C. Talbott 
Charles H. Taylor 
Edmund H. Taylor, Jr. 
Augustus Thomas . 
Robert J. Trace well . 
Oscar W. Underwood . 
Frank A. Vanderlip 
Dr. Harvey W. Wiley . 
James Wilson 
WooDRow Wilson . 
Benjamin F. Yoakum 



419 
422 
426 

430 
434 

437 
440 

445 
449 
452 
455 
458 
462 
468 
471 



[6] 




HENRY WATTERSON 

'eXRY WATTERSON was bom at Washing- 
ton, D. C, February i6, 1840. Was mainly 
educated by private tutors; was staff officer 
during the Civil War, and chief of scouts in 
General Johnston's army; reporter and edi- 
torial writer Washington States, 1858-61; 
L'diioT Democratic Review, 1860-61; Chatta- 
nooga Rebel, 1862-63; Republican Banner, 
Nashville, 1865-68. Removed to Louisville, 1868, to assume 
management of the Jmirnal, wliich, with W. N. Haldeman, he 
consolidated with the Courier and the Democrat, 1868, under 
the name of Courier- Journal, since which he has been editor. 
He represented the Fifth Kentucky district in Congress, fill- 
ing out an unexpired term from August, 1876, to March, 1877, 
and decHned re-election. He was delegate to National Demo- 
cratic Convention, 1876, of which he was temporary chairman; 
1880, 1884, 1888 he served as Chairman of the Committee of 
Resolutions, and exercised a dominating influence in formu- 
lating the national platforms. 

He has been honored with the degree of D.C.L. by the 
University of the South, i8gi, and LL.D. by Brown Uni- 
versity, 1906. He is the author of "History of the Spanish- 
American War, 1899"; "The Compromises of Life — Lec- 
tures and Addresses," 1902; editor "Oddities of Southern 
Life and Character," 1882. 

There has always been a profusion of talent in the American 
press; talent more alert and versatile than is to be found in 
the press of any European country. In the roll of the great 
American journalists, whose shining lights and powerful in- 
fluence on the policy and development of their country; in 

[7] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

that company of rare spirits and well in the front rank appears 
the name of Henry Watterson. The editor, like the poet, is 
bom, not made. Henry Watterson is a born journalist and 
generally acknowledged to be the most gifted personahty in 
the journalism of the United States; this great personality 
emerges from the unending file of its notable sons, and stands 
apart with a peculiar and extraordinary impressiveness. He 
has the mental fertility and grasp, the eager and enterprising 
temper, the high aspiration and public spirit; he combines 
extraordinary alertness of intelligence and promptitude in de- 
cision with an artistic temperament which receives impressions 
in vivid flashes — all of which are indispensable to the success of 
a great newspaper. His keen wit, his dialectical powers, his 
large and varied stores of knowledge, the ready command of his 
materials, the vigor with which he always carries the war into 
the enemy's camp, the unfeigned delight with which he applies 
what may be called a swashbuckHng style of argument, the 
unruffled temper and unfailing good humor with which he 
receives Rolands for his Olivers, and the cheery audacity with 
which he does battle for causes in which he is interested, re- 
gardless for the moment whether he has the best of the encoun- 
ter — all qualities which eminently fit him for the vocation of 
a skillful, active, and influential journahst. His place in the 
newspaper world and the success that has attended his career 
may be attributed in a great degree to a high individuality 
and strength of character. He has impressed the stamp of 
his own individuality upon his paper; it is so markedly himself 
that the people speak of it, not as the Courier- Journal says, but 
as Watterson says. Take him all in all as a journalist, and 
few, if any, essentials will be found wanting. Certainly no 
man, in his generation, has wielded the thunders of the jour- 
nalist more effectively and can show larger results, from 
thorough training, indefatigable industry, and splendid abilities. 
His keen scent and alertness in knowing what the better public 
is asking or wishing for, and to provide it in abundance, as a 

[8] 



HENRY WATTERSON 

capable business man, is at once conceded. We should look 
to no one phase of his work in journalism, but rather on the 
totality of his many-sided and marvelously flexible genius; 
and no matter however debatable the substance of his con- 
troversial editorials, or the ardor of his character may cause 
him to advocate unpopular views with exaggerated fervor, 
his courage and sturdy independence in defending what he 
believes to be right win for him the respect even of his 
opponents. 

Among the dangers that beset Democratic communities, 
none are greater than the efforts of wealth to control, not 
only electors and legislators, but also the organs of public 
opinion, and the disposition of statesmen and journalists to 
defer to and flatter the majority, adopting the sentiment domi- 
nant at the moment, and teUing the people that its voice is the 
voice of God. Mr. Watterson has not only been inaccessible 
to the lures of wealth, but just as little accessible to the fear 
of popular displeasure. With him there has been neither 
truce nor compromise with those who sought special privileges 
at the expense of the public. He has been neither dismayed 
at the rapacity of greed, nor appalled at the audacity of trusts. 
All his life he has been a true disciple of Thomas JefTerson; 
and he never tires of battling for the rights of the masses, and 
exposing the snares of monopoly and defying the mercenary 
cohorts of "predatory wealth." 

In his capacity of journalist he has set an example of 
a serious and lofty conception of an editor's duties; he has 
brought to his work a sense of moral responsibility and zeal 
for the welfare of his fellow-citizens. In fact, he has become 
a national possession; his name evokes an interest and his 
intellectual eminence a tribute which he richly deserves and 
appreciates. He has brought especial and peculiar credit and 
honor to the State of Kentucky. The profession of editor 
has evolved a new type of intellectual and supplied a new 
theater for the display of peculiar and exceptional gifts. The 

[9] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

most interesting form of this type is found in the editor who is 
himself an able writer, and who imparts his own individuality 
to the journal he directs. To this type of editorial profession 
Mr. Watterson belongs. He is one of the most remarkable 
examples of it that have appeared in our time. 

Mr. Watterson is always a stylist of the first order; always 
using the inevitable and electrical word. His style is clear- 
cut and trenchant, it rarely sinks below a high level of form 
and speech. Every word has its use and every sentence tells. 
He has a gift for terse, vivacious paragraphs. The touch is 
equally light and firm. If the manner is brisk, the matter is 
solid; the reader admires the keenness of the insight and 
the weight of the judgment, just as much as the brightness of 
the style. His style is notable for its wealth of illustration, 
its pregnant aphorism, its forceful logic and its abundant 
similitudes, of which he uses many. The power to create 
similitudes is the mark of an original and ample mind, and 
Mr. Watterson possesses it in an unusual degree. His rhetoric 
is graphic, his thought is direct and incisive, his virile and 
masterly presentation of men and events is a triumph of 
characterization. He is opulent in the use of adjectives, is 
varied in the art of bringing out of his treasury incisive nouns, 
is trenchant in his use of adverbs, picturesque in all his sen- 
tences, and home-thrusting in his satire. 

In truth, he has a vigor and strength of style, the ability 
to express truth in elegance of phrase without detracting 
from the force of thought, that has seldom been attained 
in journalistic writing. There is a fertility as well as fresh- 
ness in his application of principles to current questions 
and in the illustrations by which he enforces his arguments. 

It is often remarked that the growth of journalism, forcing 
men to write hastily and profusely, tends to injure literature 
both in matter and manner. Mr. Watterson has not seemed 
to suffer, though a prolific editorial writer; while he exhibits 
a gift for rapid and picturesque composition, with no apparent 

[lo] 



HENRY WATTERSON 

limit to the subjects which he can master at sight, yet he is 
exact, clear, and thorough, his style retaining its force and 
point. He clothes his judgments in the brilliant, the often 
fascinating language that makes his writings no less literature 
than political histor)'. With the inquisitive mind of the 
journalistic type, it is neither narrowly analytical nor loosely 
synthetical, but has that rare true constructive power in which 
analytical and synthetic genius are combined, producing an 
admirable and brilliant achievement in high-class journalism. 
His style is free from weakening dilTuseness, from perplex- 
ing evolutions, from crabbed and mutilated sentences. Com- 
monly, it is full, sometimes copious, but never prolix or tawdry; 
it has a literary distinction which entitles it, quite aside from the 
political prominence, to a high regard. He writes with much 
speed, and his capacity for rapidly throwing his subject 
into form is remarkable. It is not uncommon to reach much 
speed and facility in writing, but it is very uncommon to com- 
bine these qualities with literar)' excellence of composition and 
with permanent and careful knowledge. 

If, when judged by the strict canons of the severest taste, 
his work is now and then somewhat marred by an excessive 
luxuriance, it is due largely to the pressure of an overflowing 
vocabulary. There may be archaic forms of speech and pro- 
vincial colloquialism, but it must be allowed that most of 
these do really throw into higher relief the thought expressed. 
Even the occasional languors and lapses in his editorials into 
the prosaic are but the rests or sinkings of the eagle, that 
he may prove the strength of plume the next moment by 
again soaring to his highest in the sunbeams; but these are as 
nothing as against the treasure of masculinity and good sense 
that abounds. His editorials are sometimes purposely in- 
tended for mere brilliant tours deforce; almost reckless, designed 
rather as fireworks thrown up to dazzle and bewilder than the 
steady light of his serious and resolute purpose. Again, his 
editorials sometimes have a little more ginger than the ordinary 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

reader is accustomed to. But these vivacities are exceptional 
and incidental; they are significant, breaking as they do the 
suave decorum generally maintained. As a rule, he gives 
an attractive editorial page, to which he imparts his personal 
charm. These editorials foam over with cleverness; their 
easy fertility, their lively fancy, their keen insight into men 
and measures, give proof that they have come from a trenchant, 
virile, and courageous pen fighting for the right and high 
ideals, and even those who differ are forced to respect the 
character and honesty of the motives of the writer; that here 
is a man of strong convictions, clear ideas, and ardent senti- 
ments, based mainly upon common sense of extraordinary 
depth and breadth. 

To trace the course Mr. Watterson has taken in politics 
of the country since the Civil War would almost be the outline 
of the history of the intervening years, for there have been 
no great issues in the discussions of which he has not borne 
an important part. He has been a vital force in the history 
of the country since the Civil War. He has been ever ready 
for the fray in political and all public affairs. He has been 
a personal factor in many extremely important political hap- 
penings; a fighter for great causes lay in the very stiffness of 
his integrity. Again and again, when, contrary to his friends' 
advice, he has taken some bold and decided course, the event 
proved his judgment to have been better than theirs. He has 
exhibited many strong qualities of a leader. A leader must be 
bold and, at the same time, cautious; he must be combative 
and cool, take swift decisions on his own responsibility; he 
must be sympathetic and able to enter into the feelings of his 
followers, and show himself interested in them not merely as 
party followers, but as human beings. There must be a cer- 
tain glow, a certain effulgence of feeling, which makes them 
care for him and rally to him as a personality; in this respect 
Mr. Watterson has been very conspicuous. The most righteous 
cause will languish until a man is found to embody it ; this has 

[12 ] 



HENRY WATTERSON 

been strikingly illustrated in Mr. Watterson's "star-eyed 
Goddess." 

Holding very strong views of his own on the leading ques- 
tions of the day, he was nevertheless one of the most open- 
minded of men, and ready to admit that another argument 
was the stronger the moment his intellect recognized it. He 
was not made to follow subserviently. Possessing the quali- 
ties that make a leader, fertility of resource, boldness without 
rashness, aggressiveness without violence, alertness without 
irritating suspicions, with excellent judgment and a firm 
determination, he has been admittedly one of the safest and 
most consummate counselors of his time. 

He rendered signal service in the work of binding up the 
wounds of sectional strife, putting bygones behind him, in 
the effort to restore the South in the Union as a full partner. 
He pleaded eloquently for a restored Union under the Constitu- 
tion. All through the tr)'ing period of reconstruction he was a 
great peacemaker. He addressed himself to the task of the 
reconciliation of the sections. He thoroughly studied those 
lessons which the termination of the civil conflict enforced, 
and it was by imparting them to others, these truths so clearly 
grasped by himself, that he was enabled to render such 
important service, not only to his section, but also to his 
countr)\ 

Mr. Watterson has been a constant and able advocate of 
the distinctive issue of tariff reform and the gold standard, 
when the countr}' seemed to be on the verge of becoming blind 
to the annals of histor\' and deaf to the voice of human experi- 
ence. He has kept in close touch with the really controlling, 
because honest, public opinion of the country. His political 
philosophy has embraced economic questions, particularly 
taxation and finance, and all the large lines inherent in the 
principles for which his party has always stood. He has seen, 
quite as clearly as any mind in the country, the entire drift 
of the party away from its right course, which is also its only 

[13] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

hopeful course. It has been a matter of surprise how often 
he has anticipated the sounder conclusions, while avoiding 
the errors and extravagances of others claiming leadership. 

He has been independent, yet not a free lance, and never 
hesitated to subordinate all personal or selfish interests to 
fundamental principles. He has always avowed his belief in 
what can be accomplished by a candid and intelligent patri- 
otism under one party system. He believes in the party sys- 
tem, and his devotion to his own party is not less strong and 
sincere because it is the high love that will not condone wan- 
dering from principle. He has loved controversy and drank 
in delight of battle with his peers ; he has been the protagonist 
in many a stiff struggle ; he has scorned the small arts by which 
popularity is often sought; he has never abandoned his prin- 
ciples or wavered in his faith amid disappointment and defeat. 
A feeling of pessimism toward political conditions is not 
habitual with him; but yields quickly to a settled conviction 
that his party will eventually march from the darkness to the 
full light of glorious achievement. 

Mr. Watterson has been a creative and dominating influ- 
ence in American politics. In the accomplishment of great 
reforms in government and policies, his sagacity and fore- 
sight, his intrepidity and persistence, in the face frequently of 
almost overwhelming opposition, and his final success, are 
unquestionable; and his power and influence for good in our 
national life great and enduring. He has proved himself 
one of those rare men who early perceive the need of reform 
and then forthwith resolutely set about educating the public 
and the leaders of the people with a view to securing the 
needed reforms. In his long and honorable career there has 
been much valuable service to the State and the nation; there 
has been in this loyalty and service a sound patriotism and 
practical sense. In the list of those who have, during the 
last years, helped by their pens, their clear vision, their in- 
domitable spirit, and enlightened patriotism, to make the 

[m] 



HENRY WATTERSON 

country's history, his name will iind its place and receive its 
well-earned meed of honor. 

In life there is no magic charm like that of personality. 
In private life Mr. Watterson has the charm of an unpretend- 
ing geniality. His kindliness and unassuming simplicity of 
character give him an unusual hold on those who come to 
know him well. Indeed, few men have inspired so much regard 
and affection in so large a circle of friends. Neither recluse 
nor pedant, he moves freely among all classes, leaving the 
impress of an interesting, stimulating, gracious, sincere in- 
dividuality. He is a shrewd and genial man of the world, a 
penetrating and discriminating observer, a keen dissector of 
character, a hater of sham and despiser of pretensions. 

He is a man of genuinely charitable feeling, broad tolera- 
tion, warm and active sympathies. He knows how to be dig- 
nified without assumption, firm without vehemence, prudent 
without timidity, judicious without coldness. 

One of Mr. Watterson 's most remarkable characteristics 
is an abounding vivacity, which makes him a joyous person in 
any company. He has a pleasure-loving disposition, tact and 
bonhomie. He has a serene and unclouded brightness, an 
inspiring cheerfulness, and animation ; an immense power of en- 
joyment, which so often belongs to an active and vivacious in- 
telligence. This wonderful buoyancy of spirit and sustained 
freshness of mind has prolonged a youthful enthusiasm. 

He has the broad brow of intellect, with a massive head, 
which gives him distinction. It is a face steadfast, proud and 
self-reliant, showing energy and decision; yet with a sunny- 
tempered kindness which warms all around him and makes 
him the light of any company of which he forms a part. The 
public is apt to consider that it has a sort of vested right to 
know as much as it chooses of the life of any one who is prom- 
inently before it, and despite that its fascination should be 
kept sealed, demands that the inner sanctuary of personal 
and family life be opened up. 

['5] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

There are many men who are joyous and entertaining 
over whom a strange change comes when they cross their own 
threshold. But Mr. Watterson is never more charming and 
delightful than when surrounded by his family. Nowhere 
is he seen to a greater advantage than in his home. With the 
children he is tender, affectionate, and rejuvenated into a com- 
panionship that is as rare as it is a beautiful other side. His 
relations with his wife are peculiarly confidential and affection- 
ate. To those who have seen them together it is difificult to 
think of one apart from the other, so perfect is the community 
of thought and interest. His wife has been his business no 
less than his household companion, consulted in everything and 
the adored of his heart. The devoted comradeship of his wife 
has been an unfailing background of love and sympathy for 
a life at times politically stormy and eventful. More, the 
noble, devoted wife, so sensible, so tactful, so admirable in all 
the primary human qualities of a strong, sympathetic, and 
delicate womanliness, has contributed much by her wise coun- 
sel, her good cheer and her companionship, to the success of 
her husband. It is at Mansfield, their beautiful home in the 
country, that their charm of manner and grace of hospitality 
make them universally beloved. There is no more gracious 
hostess and host to be found anywhere. It is an attractive 
social center, and both are singularly fitted for social functions. 
Here the great editor enjoys freedom from his strenuous 
labors, and the open-air pleasure which is so refreshing after 
the stress of the day in a newspaper den, presenting a domestic 
figure wholly attractive. When the future historian of Ken- 
tucky writes of the period embracing the life of Mr. Watterson, 
he will find in the annals of the State no more striking figure 
than that of the great editor and great citizen, of whom this 
sketch has given a sincere but very imperfect appreciation. 



[i6] 




FELIX AGNUS 

EXERAL FELIX AGNUS is one of the Old 
Guard of American journalists. For more 
than a third of a century he has controlled 
the Baltimore American, and built it up until 
it is to-day one of the greatest newspaper 
properties r)f the world. Publisher and edi- 
tor, participating in every phase of news- 
paper work, and foremost in the remarkable 
changes wrought in modem publishing, he was among the 
first to recognize the power of the popular-priced paper, and 
his initiative found reward in constantly increasing success. 
Although now more than seventy years of age, his activity 
has been greater than that of the youngest member of his 
staff. When the great fire of 1904 ate out the business heart 
of Baltimore, destroying $100,000,000 in property, the hand- 
some home of Th^ American was burned to the ground. 
General Agnus at once found facilities for printing the paper 
in Washington, and for bringing its editions to Baltimore 
on special trains. Whilst the ashes of Baltimore were still 
smoldering. General Agnus planned the finest newspaper 
building in the South, and his was the first big building 
erected in the fire zone — a splendid structure of sixteen 
stories, equipped with the best newspaper plant that skill and 
money could produce. This leadership gave a wonderful 
impetus to The American, and most men would have rested 
on these laurels. But General Agnus, always planning, al- 
ways at work, always expanding, always recognizing the 
trend of the time and the needs of the situation, decided 
that a newspaper must supply the news every hour of the 
day, and he therefore issued an afternoon edition, the Balti- 

[17] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

more Star, so that his plant now, under his direction, turns 
out from six to ten editions every twenty-four hours. 

Born in Lyons, France, in 1839, and educated in Paris, 
Felix Agnus entered on a career of activity from his boyhood. 
A Zouave of the Third Regiment, he was at the battle of Mon- 
tebello, and in the same year joined Garibaldi's famous corps 
of ''Hunters of the Alps." The next year he came to New 
York, where, for a time, he was with Tiffany's, as a sculptor 
and chaser. The outbreak of the Civil War revived his spirit 
of adventure, and he entered the Union Army as a private, 
in Duryea's Fifth New York Zouaves. His first commission 
he won at Big Bethel, where he saved the life of General 
Kilpatrick. Then his dash and gallantry won him promotion 
after promotion, until he received his brevet as Brigadier 
General, being at the time only twenty-six years old, and the 
youngest of his rank in the army. On August 22, 1865, he 
resigned his commission and returned to private Hfe, bearing 
the scars of more than a score of wounds. 

It is to one of these wounds that General Agnus ascribed 
his entrance to the profession of journalism. When Charles 
C. and Eddington Fulton, of the Baltimore American, who 
had defied popular sentiment in Baltimore by vigorously 
advocating the Union cause, went down to the wharf one 
day in July, 1862, to meet a transport that had brought in a 
lot of wounded soldiers, they found Lieutenant Agnus lying 
prostrate in the cabin of the ship, suffering from a shot that 
had shattered his right shoulder. He had received the wound 
at the head of his company in the final charge of the Fifth 
Corps on the Confederate position at Gaines' Mills. They 
took him home and nursed him until the wound was healed, 
and when the war was over the patient, now General Agnus, 
hastened back to Baltimore, where he married his gentle 
nurse, Miss Annie D. Fulton, the daughter of Charles C. 
Fulton. Soon after his retirement from the Army, General 
Agnus entered the business department of The American. 

[18] 



FELIX AGNUS; 

His remarkable executive ability and his splendid business 
capacity soon accomplished results, and on July 4, 1869, he 
was placed in complete charge of the business management of 
The American, and has remained in absolute control of 
its affairs ever since. Shortly before Mr. Fulton's death, 
the venerable proprietor of The American, recognizing General 
Agnus' fitness for the position and the gratifying success that 
had resulted from his management, executed a deed of trust, 
making him sole manager of the paper. Since then, the 
direction of the Baltimore American, and, later, of the Bal- 
timore Star, have wholly occupied General Agnus' time and 

endeavor. 

General Agnus has always taken an intelligent, active 
interest in national poHtics. He has received a number of 
honorar)' appointments from various Presidents, and has 
served frequently as a member of the Board of Visitors to 
West Point and Annapolis. His relations with Presidents 
Harrison, McKinley, Roosevelt, and Taft have always been 
cordial and intimate, and Secretar}- Blaine was moved to say 
of him: "He is a great Frenchman and a great American. 
He came to this countr>' with the same zeal that made LaFay- 
ette's coming an honor to the land." In State and municipal 
affairs he has taken the active part that is the duty of every 
good citizen. He was a member of the Commission that built 
Baltimore's magnificent new Court House, and he was fore- 
man of a Grand Jury which started a sensation by probing 
deeply into the management of the local reformatories. He 
has been delegate to nearly every Presidential Convention 
in the past quarter-centur>^ and has taken part in every impor- 
tant national movement. Named repeatedly in connection 
with Cabinet positions or diplomatic appointments, he has 
consistently avoided political office. To Secretary Blaine, 
who asked him once what he wanted, he replied: ''Your 
respect while I live, and the flag at half-mast when I die." 

When the Republicans of Mar}dand controlled the Legis- 

[19] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

lature, he twice declined to enter the United States Senate. 
One position, however, he did accept. President Roosevelt 
appointed him Chairman of the Chesapeake and Delaware 
Commission, and his work on that Board was embodied in a 
report which is regarded as a model. He has received many 
honors from his fellow-citizens in this country, and he is a 
Km2:ht Commander of the French Colonial Order of Nichan- 
cl-Anouar, which is one of the divisions of the Legion of Honor. 

General Agnus has also found time for literature and the 
drama. War memories have been his particular forte, and 
he has written a number of picturesque stories, usually based 
on some thrilling incident in his own career. A drama, ''A 
Woman of War," written by him in collaboration with Miss 
Louise Malloy, was produced with success a few years ago. 
Farming is General Agnus' delight, and his one recreation. 
His beautiful country place, Nacirema, in the famous Green 
Spring Valley, is one of the show places of Maryland. The 
memorable dinner that he gave there to the late President 
Frank Thomson, of the Pennsylvania Railroad, was attended 
by Secretaries Blaine and Rusk, and fifteen hundred other 
guests, including men most prominent in politics, literature, 
finance, and commerce. 

As a journalist. General Agnus is always in command, and 
he is"^ surrounded by a stafif intensely loyal to his interests. 
Many of his employes have been with him from twenty to 
forty years, and his whole organization is a peculiarly faith- 
ful and enthusiastic family, in every one of whom he takes a 
personal interest. In this respect. The American and The 
Star are unique among the newspapers of the country, and this 
fact is one of the potent causes of their power and progress. 



[20] 




MILTON E. AILES 

'ice-president of the Riggs National 
Bank, Washington, D. C, Mr. Ailes became 
a financier more from the changing current of 
events than otherwise. He was born in the 
State of Ohio, at alx)ut the time when the 
country was in the throes of internal strife 
incident to tlie reconstruction of the affairs 
(jf the South, following the close of the 
Civil War. Good fortune has smiled upon Mr. Ailes. It 
knocked at his door, and he was there to let it in. When 
he was twentv years of age he was appointed to a minor 
position in the Treasur>- Department, at Washington, dur- 
ing the first administration of President Cleveland. His first 
month's salar>- was S60.00. He woukl have been pleased 
had it been larger, though he entered no complaint. He had 
asked for a position in the Government service and, receiving 
it, he willingly accepted the salary that went with it. He was 
eager to learn, and he wanted something to do. He made 
the best of his opportunities. He quickly realized that the 
Treasury Department is the great banking institution of 
the Government. He was not impatient, believing his time 
would come, and that the only thing to do was to fill his 
small positions faithfully, and bide his time. Ten years after 
he entered the Treasur}' he was advanced to the position of 
secretary to the Secretar>^ of the Treasury, who at that time 
was Lyman J. Gage. Four years after becoming secretary 
to the Secretary, Mr. Ailes was appointed one of the Assistant 
Secretaries of the Treasury. Mr. Ailes, long before his advance- 
ment to this high station, had made himself familiar with 
the long list of names of those who had gone from the Treas- 

[21] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

ury Department to fill positions of honor and trust in the 
commercial world. Mr. Ailes struggled hard for the pro- 
motions he received while in the service of the Government. 
At first he "toted" ice for the large water-coolers and coals 
for the fires. He was accustomed to work when in his small 
Ohio town, therefore he was not ashamed to perform honest 
labor in the Government's great banking house. From his 
$60.00 per month he saved a bit of money, which he invested 
in tuition at a night law-school. When he was not handling 
ice and coals in the Treasur}% he was reading Blackstone 
during his leisure hours of the day. 

He had an abiding faith in the value of time. He regarded 
time as money. He was not the one to procrastinate. He 
was always doing something. Mr. Ailes is free to confess that 
he is indebted to others for much of the success he has achieved, 
but it would be foolish to imagine that he was without 
merit to receive such reward. When Frank A. Vanderhp 
was one of the Assistant Secretaries of the Treasury, he was 
quick to recognize that Mr. Ailes was capable of filling higher 
positions than the one he was then occupying. It was Mr. 
Vanderlip who advanced Mr. Ailes to the position of secretary 
to Secretary Gage. It was, likewise, Mr. Vanderlip who was 
largely instrumental in making Mr. Ailes one of the Assistant 
Secretaries of the Treasury. It is not presumed Mr. Van- 
derlip would have done all of tliis, and more, had not Mr. 
Ailes come up to the standard. Mr. Vanderlip is a good 
judge of men, it would seem. When he retired from the 
Treasury himself, to take service with one of the large New 
York Banks, he had other honors in store for Mr. Ailes. 
Through Mr. Vanderlip's influence, as an official in the 
National City Bank of New York, the Riggs National of 
Washington was made one of a group of banks having an 
alHance with the New York establishment. This meant some 
new officials for the Riggs National. The eagle eye of Mr. 
Vanderlip was again on Mr. Ailes, which resulted in his being 

[22] 



MILTON E. AILES 

taken from the Treasur)' to become Vice-President of one of 
the oldest and one of the leading banking houses at the Capital. 

From his long experience in the Treasury, Mr. Ailes fitted 
into the requirements of the new conditions of the Riggs. 
In this position he has acquitted himself acceptably to all 
interests, which is a high testimonial to his worth. If any 
Government official ever did honest, faithful service, it has 
been Mr. Ailes. The idea that a ''public office is a private 
snap " is no part of Mr. Ailes' makeup. According to his 
belief, "A public ofTicc is a public trust." 

Mr. Ailes is small in stature, probably not more than five 
feet six inches in height. He is of stocky build, wears heavy 
gold-rimmed spectacles, which make him appear older than 
he is. He is not without a smile — one of the kind that 
doesn't come ofT, yet it is not of the Taft pattern. 

Mr. Ailes wears his honors with due dignity, but not with 
haughtiness. He does not object if his intimates call him 
"Milt," which several of them do. Mr. Ailes, outside of his 
banking interest, is a handy man to have around. If there 
are any private or public subscriptions to be taken up, Mr. 
Ailes is usually selected as the Treasurer. This would indi- 
cate that the public is not afraid to place their belongings in 
his possession. He does not claim to know all about the 
banking business, but what he does know he knows well. 
Since he was made an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, 
he has been a faithful student of business and of finance 
in general. Personally, Mr. Ailes is a man of many agreeable 
traits. The germ of vanity has not got into his system. The 
chances are it never will. He is good-natured, and a good 
talker. His face is clean shaven. He knows he is not built 
on the Hnes of an Apollo, but this does not disturb him. He 
has written some matter for magazines which has received 
high commendation. He is a "homefolks" man. He looks 
upon fashionable society as one of the institutions of the 
country, but he cares little for it. 

[23] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

Mr. Ailes has a hobby. There is nothing strange about 
that. Although a banker, he is at the same time an agri- 
culturist. It is not intended to create the impression that 
he is a "gentleman fanner." It is this class who make enough 
money in the city to pay the expenses of the farm. Mr. Ailes 
owns a small farm in the State of West Virginia, and he makes 
it pay. It is his pleasure to work on his farm just the same 
as if he were Mrs. Ailes' "hired man." "Farmer" Ailes is 
quite a different-looking man, in personal attire, from that 
of "Banker" Ailes. He is as much at home feeding his 
chickens or driving the horses to the mowing-machine or the 
plow as he is when discounting a piece of gilt-edged security 
in the bank. He has an ambition to become some day a large 
land-owner, when he may quit banking and transform him- 
self into a real farmer, who will conduct his farm not on scien- 
tific principles only, but from a common-sense point of view. 
When in the country, Mr. Ailes reads the market reports on 
eggs, chickens, hogs, cattle, sheep, potatoes, hay, com, and 
wheat. When in the city, about the only thing in the market 
line that interests him are stock and bond quotations. Thus 
it can be seen how a desirable citizen like Mr. Ailes can live 
a dual life. He has a fondness for the simpler and plainer 
things of life. He will always be conservative, and never do 
anything foolish. Upon the same principle, as a banker he 
will never lend money where he believes he will not get it back. 
In his individual capacity he is sentimental. As a business 
man he is the reverse. It is not likely he will ever become a 
high liver— not that he dislikes spending money, but his 
inclinations run the other way. He is an early riser, some- 
times a few laps ahead of the family rooster. When the hands 
on the big clock in the Riggs Bank point to ten minutes past 
ten, Mr. Ailes is at his desk. He believes in promptness. ^ He 
will not keep others waiting, and dislikes being kept waiting 
by others. 

[24] 




NELSON WILMARTH ALDRICH 

OT Clay, nor Calhoun, nor Bcnlon, nor Doug- 
las, nor Fessenden, nor Conklingever exerted 
as great influence on Federal legislation as this 
man has for twenty years. Webster himself, 
with his gigantic mind and matchless elo- 
quence, was never the force in the American 
Senate this man has been and is. George 
Evans fought the taritT battle of 1846 and lost. 
Nelson W. Aldrich fought the tarifT battles of 1883, 1890, 1893, 
and 1897, and won. He never lost a trick. The Wilson-Gor- 
man tariff was as much the handicraft of Aldrich as it was of 
any other man. He and Bill Chandler wrote the cotton sched- 
ule, and it was for protection only. He, Chandler, and Matt 
Quay wrote the iron and steel schedule, and it, too, was for 
protection only, as is attested by the fact that, three years later, 
Dingley adopted them with ver)' little change, and no change 
whatever e.xcept in the costlier articles. 

Aldrich is no lawyer, no scholar. So far as his public 
utterances attest, he is densely ignorant of history-, and one 
may well believe that he has contempt for general literature. 
Burke's magnificent political and moral philosophy, couched 
in that marvelous production, the speech on "The Nabob 
of Arcot's Debts," would bore the Senator from Rhode 
Island, while if the most ignorant and most illiterate employe 
of a Providence or Fall River cotton mill should accost him 
in the throng and say that he had a secret as to dye-stuffs 
that would save five cents on a bolt of calico or gingham, 
Aldrich would be spellbound by such eloquence, and run the 
thing down until he ascertained whether it were practical or 
visionary. 

[25] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

Like the late venerable Justin S. Morrill, Senator Aldrich 
is a business man, but he could never bring to the discussion 
of an economic question the literar}' finish, the historical illus- 
tration, the happy allusion, the biting sarcasm, the old Ver- 
monter summoned every time he went to debate with such 
giants as Beck and Vest and Vance. Morrill was a cross- 
roads storekeeper; but he was also a student of books. Perhaps 
he had read Adam Smith without grasping the drift of that 
powerful intellect. Doubtless he had read Bentham in dis- 
cussion with Smith, digested his energy, fallacy, and assimi- 
lated its every virus. Aldrich cared for none of these. 

Aldrich does not convince, nor does he persuade — he 
dominates. When those big, black, briUiant eyes, from a 
great big dome of thought, give a glance at another Senator, 
they read him through and through, and he discovers in a 
twinkling whether it is worth while for Nelson W. Aldrich 
to waste any time on that fellow. There is the secret, the 
whole secret, of the man's strength. He has a powerful and, 
sometimes, an imperious will, and precious little important 
legislation has been enacted by the American Congress for 
twenty years that he did not approve, and none that he did 
not assent to. His cardinal principle is that mankind is com- 
posed of two parts — the rulers and the ruled. He is no 
demagogue; no hypocrite. What the South visits on the 
negro in a political way he would mete out to the mudsills of 
the North if he could discern a safe and practical way to 
accomplish it. 

Ambrose E. Burnside, a stout soldier and an incapable 
captain, was repeatedly chosen Governor of Rhode Island 
after our big war. Then he was elevated to the Senate, 
succeeding William Sprague, who got the honor for his mil- 
lions, and who was no inconsiderable man, notwithstanding 
his vast wealth. In the Senate Burnside was a party man, 
and said "yea" or ''nay" as party politics dictated. His 
last appearance in that body was the special session of the 

[26] 



NELSON WILMARTH ALDRICH 

Senate convened by Garfield soon after his inauguration. It 
is a rather formidable volume in bulk that records the pro- 
ceedings of that session, and in its pages Benjamin H. Hill 
stands out in bold relief as the most powerful debater since 
Douglas. He first skinned Mahone, and then he grappled 
with Conkling, Hoar, and several other big men, and made 
monkeys of them ail. Of all our public men, Ben Hill was 
the greatest when measured by the length of his service in 
the national councils — two years in the House and five in the 
Senate. He met all comers, including Blaine, Garfield, 
Carpenter, Conkling, Hoar, Logan, and others, during those 
seven years, less four months, and the blood of all of them 
stained his beak and the flesh of all of them was on his talons. 

Burnside died early in the autumn of 1881, about the 
time Garfield expired, and Rhode Island sent Nelson W. 
Aldrich to supply the vacancy. He had been trained in an 
academy; he had been in the town council; he had served in 
the State Legislature and been Speaker of the House. His 
was, perhaps, the first name on the alphabetical roll of the 
House of the Forty-sixth Congress, a body that contained as 
many able men as ever sat in deliberation on Capitol Hill. 
Get its roster and read the names of the members from Ken- 
tucky and Ohio, Texas and Indiana, Georgia and Virginia, 
if you would take satisfaction in the thought: "There were 
giants in those days." In that Congress, to all appearances, 
Aldrich was a cipher. He was no orator, and of all great 
masters of the American Congress he was, and is, the least 
loquacious, and yet he can talk, and make a strong speech, 
when occasion imperatively demands it. 

When Aldrich entered the Senate, the Republican side 
had just lost its three ablest men — Carpenter was dead, 
Blaine had left the Senate for the Cabinet, and was in 
retirement, writing "Twenty Years in Congress." Conk- 
ling, like many another great man of genius, after resigning 
in indignation at injustice, and in disgust at ingratitude, 

[27] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

allowed himself to be persuaded by his too zealous and indis- 
creet friends, and against his better judgment and contrary 
to firm resolution — Conkling allowed himself to be dragged 
into a contest for re-election, and was humiliated by the 
results. 

But there were left of the Republicans, Sherman, who 
took the shoes Ohio had taken from Thurman and given to 
Garfield, after Garfield had appropriated the shoes Ohio had 
sent him to the national inquest to procure for Sherman. 
There was Hoar, whom time and experience had not yet 
fashioned into the broad, patriotic catholicity of the Hoar of 
later years. There was Edmunds, matchless in the skill with 
which he employed technique at the bar and in the Senate. 
There was Ingalls, brilliant, eloquent, venomous, a perfect 
master of phrase, and created for faction. 

On the Democratic side was Beck, ponderous in argu- 
ment, indefatigable in industry, powerful in disputation. 
Vest supported him — the rapier of Bussy d'Amboise thrust- 
ing with the mace of Athelstane side by side. Lamar was 
another, the finest imagination that has sat in Saxon council 
since Burke. Of Ben Hill I have spoken. Harris was there, 
and Garland. Morgan, too, was just disclosing to his fellow- 
citizens that he was in the front rank of American specula- 
tive statesmen. Pugh, his colleague, was scarcely second to 
him as a thinker, and perhaps was his superior as a lawyer. 
Bayard was yet in the Senate, a pure type of man and a high 
type of statesman. There was Dan Voorhees, one of the 
foremost orators and most generous men of his generation. 
Ben Harrison was his colleague, and worthy even of Ben Hill's 
steel. Vance was there from North Carolina, a wonderful 
combination — soldier, orator, statesman, and as ready in 
debate as any man who ever broke silence in the Senate. 

The new m.embers were Hawley, Harrison, Hale, Frye, 
Gorman, Conger, whom Joe Blackburn swore to be "even 
meaner than he looked, and that's impossible"; Van Wyck, 

[28] 



NELSON WILMARTII ALDRICH 

who, according to Zcb \ancc, "had too much shag leather in 
his pants," like the elephant. Now, any one who ever looked 
at old Van's trousers was bound to think of the surplus hide 
on Jumbo's legs. Perhaps there was no man at the National 
Capital who dreamed that the day was not distant when the 
new Senator from Rhode Island would be the most powerful 
individual Senator who ever sat in that body. So far as I 
know, he has engaged in a debate, hilt to hilt, with but two 
adversaries, and they were giants— John G. Carlisle, of Ken- 
tucky, in the Fifty-first Congress, on the McKinlcy tariff, and 
William Lindsay, of Kentucky, in the Fifty-third Congress, 
on the Wilson tariff. Here were two profound thinkers en- 
gaged by a man wlio got his knowledge standing by the loom. 
And strange it is. that both these jurists utterly overthrew 
the practical man. 

Aldrich, after making the Dingley tariff to suit New Eng- 
land, gave us our present imperfect gold standard, which 
supplies us with a currency, alx)ve haff a billion of which is 
neariy 50 per cent fiat. And, strange to say, he now allows 
the Treasur)' to make monthly purcha.ses of 200,000 ounces of 
silver for minor coin, when good husbandry imperatively 
demands that the subsidiar\- silver coin should be made of the 
Bland-AlHson full legal-tender silver dollars. 

Senator Aldrich is generally supposed to be out of sym- 
pathy with the new evangel flippantly called the octopus 
chase. But that is a crusade that must run its course. Con- 
gress passed the Sherman law that requires the railroads to 
compete, and to emphasize the thing killed the pooling bill. 
The roads went ahead competing, for that is all that rebate 
is— <:ompetition. To illustrate: Two merchants are rivals 
at the crossroads. They have cases of boots they bought, 
perhaps, from the same jobber at the same price. The goods 
are marked, say, $3.50 a pair, and sold at that figure to their 
regular customers, respectively; but a grasping fellow comes 
along and these storekeepers get to competing for his trade. 

[29] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

He will get the boots at $3.00, perhaps less, a pair. That is 
rebate. Here was the meat trust, the steel trust, the oil trust 
— ^all grasping fellows — and they made the railroads compete 
for their business, and thus got rebates. 

But along comes Senator Elkins with a law that makes 
it criminal to compete, for that is all the anti-rebate law is. 
What is the poor octopus to do ? The Sherman law commands 
it to compete ; the Elkins law forbids it to compete. The octopus 
is thus in the fix De Bracey was in the novel of Ivanhoe — 
Cceur de Lion, with battle-ax in hand, is in its front, and burn- 
ing Torquilstane is in its rear. 

One of these days somebody will come forward with wis- 
dom enough to compose the difficulty. The first effective 
move will be the destruction of competition. The next will 
be to serve the public at so low a cost that competition will 
stay dead. That is the only possible solution; but the Solon 
who would propose it now would soon find himself out of a job. 

Aldrich's opinion of that wonderful oration — Beveridge's 
debut in the Senate — the marvelous speech on the Philippines, 
would interest you if you could induce him to give it you. 



[30] 




JOHN M. ATHERTON 

'ex whose virtues and talents have influenced 
the course of public events naturally engage 
the attention and awaken the zeal of the 
public. While mankind delights in those 
scenes of ambitious life which abound in 
great and surprising occurrences, they equally 
\alur the more refined satisfaction of recog- 
nizing those instances of superior virtue and 
talents which, without extended celebrity in large public 
aflairs, have illuminated and embellished their own peculiar 
sphere of an active, useful, and admirable life; a life full of 
wise counsels and stimulating examples; a life such as teaches 
valuable lessons of private conduct. 

In this class the name of John M. Atherton is entitled to 
be enrolled. 

John ]M. Atherton was born April i, 1841, in the county 
of Larue, Ky. He was educated in the local county schools, 
and Georgetown College, Georgetown, Ky. Intending to 
become a lawyer, he attended the Law Department of the 
University of Louisville, Ky., for one session, but his health 
failing, he was compelled to abandon his purpose, and returned 
to his countr}' home, where he engaged in farm work until 
1867, when he entered into the distilling business. In 1869, 
he was elected to represent Larue County in the lower House 
of the Kentucky Legislature, as a Democrat. He removed 
to the city of Louis\'ille, in 1873, where he continued the 
distilling business in the firm name of J. M. Atherton & Co. 
There has never been a commercial house in the history of 
the city of higher standing and more noted for business fore- 
sight, sagacity, progressive and enlightened policy and vigi- 

[3>] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

lant integrity. He retired from business in 1899, and in 1900 
moved to the country, to enjoy the ample reward he had 
realized from many years of unwearied industry and a high 
order of business sagacity. 

Common sense and good judgment are strong mental 
characteristics of Mr. Atherton. Not common sense in the 
popular acceptation, which suffers from a vulgar notion that 
it is totally separate and distinct from high virtues. The 
most weighty concerns of life are not so frequently at the 
disposal of genius and imagination as of the maxims of com- 
mon sense ; it sees the immediate obstacle which is to be over- 
come, and it uses common words in doing so. Common 
sense is that power of mind by which ideas are received and 
compared, and capable of perceiving the truth, when presented 
to it, by simple intuition. In proportion as the mind can 
bring at once under its review a larger number of ideas, and 
determine on their accordance or disagreement, is the strength 
of this faculty. Its appearance and operation in the case of 
Mr. Atherton are improved by culture and by a union in the 
same mind of more exalted talents. Indeed, he illustrates 
what Coleridge held, that the only "common sense worth 
having is based on metaphysics." 

The other faculty, judgment, may be said to exercise a 
high dominion over the extensive and unbounded range of 
everyday afifairs. 

Mr. Atherton possesses, to a marked degree, this master 
faculty of the human mind; that quick tact which enables a 
man, when surrounded by a maze of conflicting probabilities, 
to seize upon that which approaches the nearest to truth; a 
sober good judgment is the principal ingredient in what we 
call force of character, and confers that fertility of resource 
and firmness of resolve which more than any other qualities 
fit a man for an active and useful life. 

Without having been placed in many great situations, 
or enjoying great opportunities for the display of his power 

[32] 



JOHN M. ATIIERTOX 

as a public speaker, he has frequently been called upon to 
address his fellow-citizens on matters, not only of local, but of 
State and National importance. On these occasions he has 
shown a masculine and ncn'ous power, proceeding from an 
open and energetic mind; a mind not cramped by prejudice, 
nor fettered by abstract speculation; a mind dominated by 
firmness and integrity, which would bend to no momentary 
caprice or yield to no contagious delusion ; but a mind informed 
by various and extensive knowledge and disciplined among the 
contingencies of a real and practical life. 

He speaks slowly, deliberately, calmly; in a clear, dis- 
tinct, l)ut unimpassioned voice, like a professor demonstrating 
a geometrical theorem. He does not appeal to feelings, but 
to reason; his strength lies in the verbs, not in the adjectives. 
He uses a vigorous, incisive, and clear logic which goes straight 
to the heart of the subject, and while the listeners may hold 
opposing views, they are impressed witli the force and per- 
suasive power of his contentions. His statements are so clear, 
his style so vigorous, his tone so confident, that the audience 
is carried away by the speaker's manifest honesty and 
earnestness. 

One of Mr. Atherton's gifts is a remarkable conversa- 
tional power; many consifler that he converses even better 
than he speaks or writes. With a mind alert and nimble in 
the highest degree, he sees in a moment the point in dispute, 
seizes on distinctions which others fail to perceive, suggests 
new aspects from which the question may be regarded, and 
generally enlivens the discussion by a keen yet a kindly humor. 
Talking with his intimate friends, nothing could exceed the 
simplicity, the charm, the brilliant ideas and new conceptions 
that are given in easy flowing language to those who are 
talking around him. 

His conversational debating is dialectically cogent. He 
is combative, apt to traverse any proposition advanced, and 
a discussion with him taxes the defensive acumen of his adver- 

3 [33] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

sary. He is swift and ready in repartee and playfulness of 
satire; and this tendency, while it makes his society more 
stimulating, does not make it less agreeable; and his manner, 
though positive, has about it nothing acrid or conceited. 

Every State must prosper in proportion as its members 
are devoted to the public interest. The more one's social 
affections are cherished and the more one is withdrawn from 
the pursuit of selfish gratification, the more inclination and 
leisure one will have to listen to the wants of the community. 
Pubhc spirit is a settled principle of good-will toward one's 
fellow-citizens, exerting itself in generous efforts for their 
social and political welfare, exerting itself in a sympathetic 
and habitual concern for one's friends, neighbors, and the 
community of which he is a member. Public spirit, ani- 
mated by motives of conscience, high civic duty, and an 
inflexible determination to serve it; public spirit as a con- 
sistent, uniform, disinterested principle, has been with Mr. 
Atherton not so much a feeling as a habit, not so much a 
passion as a principle of duty. 

Every public-spirited movement requiring the sacrifice 
of a limited to a more extensive interest, demanding some- 
thing more than what strict honesty and the mere letter of 
pubhc duty enjoined, is assured, in advance, of his sympathy 
and hearty co-operation. He furnishes a notable example of 
the fact that a busy commercial career can be exercised for 
the pubhc good without the spirit of paternal condescension 
too often characteristic of successful men. 

At pubhc meetings, where matters of supreme interest 
to the countr}' at large, the State or the community, are to be 
considered and to be submitted to the electors, he is ever 
ready to bring to bear on the subject sustained logic and 
masterly marshaled arguments. 

He is called upon, from time to time, for advice and impulse, 
when important issues are involved, and never fails to give 
convincing proof of the views he advocates. Indeed, he could 

[34] 



JOHN M. ATIIERTON 

not, if he would, refrain from his al^ility and willingness to 
serve the best interests of the public. 

Private life is, in truth, the nursery of the Commonwealth; 
there is an intimate connection between private and public 
virtues. It was a wise heathen who maintained that the 
virtues and resources of indi\iduals are the riches of the 
State. Mr. .Vthcrton's personality has done much to secure 
his wide influence. 

Turning to the more personal side of his character, perhaps 
the first thing to strike any one who has even a slight acquaint- 
ance with his private life is the contrast between the austere 
attitude, sometimes appearing in public, and the gracious, 
kindly nature revealed to those who know the real man — 
a nature retaining the charm of sincerity and gentleness. 
Unjustly he passes, with some, for being harsh and cold, but 
those who know him intimately find that under this reserve 
there lies not only a capacity for affection, but that no man 
could be more tenacious of hi<. friendships. He may not give 
one the impression of effusion ; but he affects no au.sterities of 
discipline, no singularity in manners or appearance — the usual 
error of weak minds or the artifice of designing men to capti- 
vate the imagination of the vulgar. 

lie is calmly, not coldly, undemonstrative. For under an 
apparent impassiveness, he is not a chilly man. He has a 
soft and warm side. There is about him an even-tempered, 
genial radiation which is soon felt by those who come witliin 
the range of his personal life. In fact, he has, to a remark- 
able degree, that indefinable charm often called "personal 
magnetism," for want of a more accurate description. 

It is true that he is not mercurial or fitful and capricious 
in his treatment of others. But, without doing or saying 
much, he soon makes one feel at home in his presence. His 
reserve is of that character which reassures, because, by its 
disdain of formalities and gushing conventionalism, it is seen 
to be an attribute of sinceritv. 

[35] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

In private life and in private relationships, he is genial, 
generous, sympathetic, and full of the spirit of good fellowship. 
His public life teems with instances of his unselfishness, for- 
giveness, humanity, tolerance, and broad-mindedness in every 
sense of the word. 

Many acts of substantial generosity stand to the credit 
of Mr. Atherton, of which he gives no publicity or even speaks 
in private. No deserving person in distress, or worthy object 
of charity, ever appeals to him in vain ; but in alms he follows 
the Biblical injunction: "Let not thy left hand know what 
thy right hand docth." 

After his retirement from active business, Mr. Atherton 
moved to the country, a short distance from the city, where 
he has a beautiful home, Campobello, equipped with every 
modern comfort and convenience. At Campobello, if possible, 
he is more enterprising in his hospitality than he was in busi- 
ness. Scarcely a day passes without visits from friends, who 
arc cordially welcomed and graciously entertained. One 
of the most enjoyable features of Campobello hospitahty is 
the frequent elaborate dinners, when choice friends are enter- 
tained with a profusion of the very best the market affords, 
and served with the skill and perfection of a master chef; 
until every one, like Lucretius' "well-filled guest, is ready to 
withdraw, and, with contented mind, take a repose that is 
removed from every care." 

It is difficult to imagine a keener pleasure than the host 
affords at these gatherings; he is cheerful, vivacious, humor- 
ous, kindly familiar, and, above all things, ingenious and full 
of variety, which lights up every subject which is discussed. 

Recently, in a much agitated municipal matter, Mr. 
Atherton, in apologizing for his active participation, for fear 
that liis motives might be misinterpreted, after frankly dis- 
avowing any personal interest in the enterprise contemplated, 
begged that his action be charged "to a Hfelong habit of 
bothering himself about public questions." If he feels that 

[36] 



JOHN M. ATIIERTOX 

he, at any time, has engaged himself in trouble from which 
he might have been otherwise exempted, as he states, "by 
following a general but questionable course," he certainly 
has the high consolation and reward of knowing that his 
exertions have been actuated by a philanthropical spirit. He 
can, at least, enjoy the enuable satisfaction of having served 
his community as a citizen, and having fulfilled his duties 
as a man solely on what his conscience and best judgment 
have dictated to him. 

Among the responsible positions held by Mr. Atherton 
may be mentioned that of director of the old gas company for 
many years; director for many years, and now first vice-presi- 
dent, of the National Bank of Kentucky, the oldest and the 
recognized head of Kentucky banks; and president of the 
Lincoln Savings Bank, a young but strong and most promising 
financial institution. 



[37] 




JOSEPH W. BAILEY 

^IS MIND works like a Corliss engine " is the 
characterization Elihu Root made of Joseph 
W. Bailey, after the Texan had concluded 
one of his masterly arguments on what was 
known as the rate bill, then pending in the 
Senate of the United States. On another 
occasion, after Bailey had debated with pro- 
found logic a great constitutional problem, 
Eugene Hale, a Senator from Maine, and one among the 
ablest men who have appeared in the National Councils for a 
generation, announced that he was convinced, though he had 
always before held to a contrary opinion. That was a tribute 
nor Webster, nor Calhoun, nor other American Statesmen 
ever received. Numberless men have been persuaded against 
their will; and to convince a man against his will is in the 
nature of the miraculous. Bailey did it, and the man he con- 
vinced was of the first rank, of a diametrically antagonistic 
school, and the subject matter was a fundamental principle 
of American polity. 

Endowed with a gigantic intellect, a sound physical con- 
stitution, unusual physical strength, and robust physical 
health, Bailey was also blessed with a passion for mental 
labor. Had he been indolent intellectually, as so many great 
geniuses unfortunately are, he would never have risen above 
the dead level of hopeless and helpless mediocrity. He would 
have been swift of foot on rare occasions, but he would not 
have soared aloft and gazed on the sun with the eagle. It 
is a truism without exception that there is no excellence 
without labor. To get the kernel, the nut must first be cracked. 
Another secret of Bailey's tremendous force lies in the fact 

[38] 



JOSEPH W. BAILEY 

that his mind is concentrated on two points only — law and 
statesmanship. He has been in public life at Washington 
since 1891, and has delivered speeches and written reports 
that would make volumes, and the productions of Stephen A. 
Douglas or John G. Carlisle are not more naked of ornament, 
not less redolent of imager}*, not more indicative of rugged 
strength and simple diction. If Iniik-v had scattered his 
mental forces and been an omnivorous reader and universal 
thinker like Burke, he would not have convinced Hale, nor 
overcome Spooner. 

Bailey first appeared in Washington in the Fifty-second 
Congress, that had the largest Democratic majority that 
party or any other party ever harl in any Congress of our 
entire histor}-, and he was its youngest member. It was also 
the first Congress of William J. Br}'an, who is far more of a 
brilliant orator than he is a profound thinker. .Vnother secret 
of Bailey's terrific force is a pronounced individuality of 
character, buttressed by a mental aggression and personal 
audacity that enthuses his followers and appalls his adver- 
saries. Twenty years ago Bailey, like all men who study in 
the closet and have strong convictions, was narnnv, and it 
took several years for him to broaden. In those days he 
weighted down the spirit with the letter, and he even went so 
far as to propose "to dock the pay" of members when absent 
from their legislative duties. He was looked on as a crank, 
and was so classed until he made two or three powerful speeches 
that astonished the House and extorted admiration from his 
enemies in both parties. And thus Congress came to con- 
clude that if the young man was a crank, he was the ablest, 
brawniest, hardiest, most zealous of the guild Congress had 
ever seen. And then he began to grow more rapidly than 
ever, and it would be hazardous to venture that he has yet 
reached his ultimate zenith as a thinker and debater. 

Charles F. Crisp was the leader of the minority of the Fifty- 
fourth Congress; but he died before the Congress expired, 

[39] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

and there was a struggle for the succession. Benton McMillin 
was the "Logical" candidate, for he was in thorough accord 
with the majority of his party on the tariff question, a disciple 
of the school of Morrison and CarHsle, to which President 
Cleveland adhered. Bailey was an ''insurgent" on that 
feature, and while he did not go the whole hog, there was a 
rather strong tincture of Randaiiism in his composition. But 
McMillin, more than any other member of the Fifty-second 
Congress, was responsible for the defeat of Mills for Speaker 
by Crisp, and thus Bailey was made Democratic leader; but 
Caesar could not have led that demoralized squad, now torn 
by faction and reeking with bitterness. The silver question 
had supplanted the tariff question, and the Democratic party 
in Congress was not on speaking terms with the Democratic 
party in the White House. But Bailey fought like a lion 
as long as he was leader, until he abdicated in disgust, and 
was succeeded by James D. Richardson, whose temperament 
was the exact opposite of the Texan's. 

Thomas B. Reed, the Speaker, was the majority leader, 
and he found in the young Texan a foeman worthy his steel 
and that of his chief-of-staff on the floor, Mr. Dingley; and 
that recalls that when Thomas B. Reed first appeared in the 
Forty-fifth Congress he was a much older man than Bailey 
was when the Fifty-second Congress first convened; and, 
what is more, Tom Reed, in 1877, was a much more narrow 
man than Bailey was in 1891. At no time of his career has 
Bailey ever delivered himself of such bigoted, repulsive, vindic- 
tive fanaticism as came from Reed in the debate of the bill 
appropriating a small sum to reimburse William and Mary 
College for the vandalism visited on it by Federal soldiers 
during the war. 

The forcefulness of Bailey, mental and moral, is shown 
in the fact that he practically destroyed Millsism in Texas. 
The tariff idea of Mills was free raw materials and tariff for 
revenue only on finished products. It triumphed in 1890, 

[40] 



JOSEPH W. BAILEY 

in one of the fiercest of struggles, culminating in the greatest 
political victor)' any party ever attained in this country; but 
that \ictor>' was neutralized when the Democratic majority 
of the Fifty-second Congress sent Mills to the rear and made 
Crisp the 'legislative leader. Just such a chill as paralyzed 
the Democratic party in 1880, when Tilden was rejected, 
now unner\-ed the party when the author of the proposed 
tariff of 1888 was sent to the rear. The result is history; the 
Democrats, it is true, had a majority in the Fifty-third 
Congress, but the last eight Congresses chosen have been 
stronglv Republican. 

Mills was driven from the Senate, and Bailey became the 
spokesman of Texas on the tariff question. He is for a tariff 
for revenue onlv on all importations and refuses to the manu- 
facturer free raw materials. Not only has he brought Texas 
to that view, but the cotton South is for it, though the Democ- 
racy of the North still clings to the idea of free raw materials . 
ami elimination of ever>' purely protective feature of duties 
on finished products. _ 

Senator Bailev is a man of immense force and strong mdi- 
vidualitv of character. It would be impossible for him to be 
a blind'follower of anv man. Having implicit confidence m 
himself, absolutelv self-reliant, he will sit in the front row 
among the elders, or raise a disturbance. Of course, such a 
man makes as relentless enemies as he does devoted fnends. 
He can hate like a Bismarck, and he can love like a Choate, 
and thus is his overshadowing and positive individuality 

established. 

His chief personal characteristic is an audacity that not 
even James G. Blaine attained. Sometimes his friends 
believe him wrong; but they have for him only the greater 
admiration. In the Senate he is regarded as its greatest 
intellect and first debater, and Democrats hope for a time 
when he shall clash with Root in the discussion of a great 
legal question, and with Burton in the debate of a great poHtical 

[41] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

question. His weakness lies in this: A majority of his party 
reject his preachments on the great economic issue of the 
tariff, which is certain to be paramount in 191 2. 

Bailey's further strength lies in this: He is an untiring 
worker. No more laborious student ever appeared in our pub- 
lic life ; and blessed as he is, with perfect health and herculean 
strength, he can undergo mental and physical tasks that would 
strike down an ordinary man. 

He has gone far, and he is yet under fifty ; his mind is not 
yet at the meridian, and if he shall remain in the Senate as 
long as did John Sherman or John T. Morgan, he will make a 
fame as an intellectual giant equal to Webster. 



[42] 




JOHN H. BANKHEAD 

''IDSUMMER, 1861, was a stirring epoch in 
our countr>''s histor>'. Revolution was ablaze, 
and war but a few days in the future. For 
four years after the country was deluged with 
blo()(i. and every home was a house of 
mourning. A youth of nineteen was toiling 
in a field" in Marion County, Alabama, when 
. ^.^ . ^_ the tocsin sounded, and he left the plow to 
sci/e the musket as a member of the Sixteenth Regiment of 
Alabama \olunteer Infantr>'. From private, he attamed to 
the rank of captain through a series of deserved and earned 
promotions. He was in the "hornet-nest" at Shiloh. He 
was in Buckncr's magnificent charge at Chickamauga, m 
which he fell seriouslv wounded, and he did not recover from 
the effects of this injury until Sherman was poundmg at the 
gates of Atlanta. Then this youthful soldier rejoined his 
command and fought in those tremendous battles waged by 
the two veteran and heroic commanders around, and for, that 
devoted citv, and here he got two rather severe wounds; but 
he remained with the regiment until the final surrender. 

And that was John H. Bankhead in the sapling. After 
reconstruction, Alabama had civil service for this man to dis- 
charge. He was repeatedly a member of the State legislature. 
In 1886 he was elected to the Fiftieth Congress, and it is a 
remarkable circumstance that of all his associates in that 
body, but two remain members of the House of Representa- 
tives of the Sixty-first Congress-Joseph G. Cannon and 
John Dalzell. It is only cumulative proof of the rage o 
the American people for novelty. They love change and 
upon the slightest provocation, or in exercise of the paltriest 

[43] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

whim, they rebuke a public servant and give him discharge. 
It takes about twenty years to change the entire Congress, 
whereas it would require more than half a century entirely 
to revolutionize the membership of the British House of 
Commons. 

After twenty years in the House of Representatives, Mr. 
Bankhead took his seat in the Senate, the successor of John 
T. Morgan, doubtless the greatest man Alabama ever sent to 
act and speak for her in the National Councils. Thus, since 
March 4, 1887, John H. Bankhead has held a seat in one or 
the other House of the National Legislature. He was long a 
member of two important committees, Rivers and Harbors and 
Public Buildings and Grounds, of which latter he was chair- 
man in the Fifty-second and Fifty-third Congresses. These 
weighty organs of the House of Representatives have intrusted 
to them two heavy purses of the Federal treasury, for each 
prepares and reports bills appropriating enormous sums; 
and it is only truth to say that during his long service on them 
Bankhead was an able and trusted member, weighing every 
proposition with the judicial temper of a capable judge on 
the bench. 

Had he seized the opportunity, as many a man does when 
a candidate for political preferment, it is quite Hkely that 
Mr. Bankhead would have been chosen leader of the minority 
of the Fifty-sixth Congress. When William L. Wilson was 
defeated for re-election in 1894, the minority leadership fell to 
Charles F. Crisp, who held it till his death, before the expira- 
tion of the Fifty-fourth Congress. Then there was a struggle 
for the honor between the veteran Benton McMillin and the 
youthful Joseph W. Bailey, and victory inclined to the latter. 

Mr. Bailey held the position until the assembling of the 
Fifty-sixth Congress, when he decHned re-election. Then it 
was that his many friends besought Mr. Bankhead to accept 
the place. Reluctantly he consented to be a "receptive" 
candidate; but James D. Richardson, an active candidate, 

[44] 



JOHN II. BAXKIIEAD 

was successful, and nobody was more delighted with the 
result than Mr. Bankhead. Subsequently, Richardson retired, 
and was succeeded by John Sharp Williams, who resigned the 
place upon his election to the Senate, when Champ Clark 
was selected. 

Senator Bankhead is of extremely modest temperament. 
He shuns the limelight, and shrinks from public exploit; but 
he is an excellent public speaker when the occasion impera- 
tively demanrls it, notwithstanding his charming dillklence. 

But of the man who got those severe wounds in as many 
desperate battles, it may be said that his shyness is due to 
modesty, and in no sense because of conscious inferiority. 

Mr. Bankhead is a man of imposing presence, tall, sym- 
metrical, muscular, and dignified in manner. He dresses 
with neatness and good taste, and liis personal presence would 
attract attention in any assemblage. He is devoted to his 
wife, a leader in Congressional social life at the National 
Capital. She is a woman of strong mental endowment, and 
has been an invaluable helpmeet to her distinguished hus- 
band, her counsel having been of incalculable advantage to 
him in his public career. 



[45] 




EDWARD W. BARRETT 

Proprietor Age-Herald, Birmingham, Ala- 
bama. Mr. Barrett is a native of Georgia, 
born and reared at Augusta. His earliest 
recollection of men who had participated in 
the affairs of the nation was Gen. Robert 
Toombs. Toombs and Barrett lived in the 
same town. The latter was a slip of a boy, 
however, when the Southern leader died, and 
in his youthful imagination he regarded his distinguished 
townsman as the greatest man in history. Later, Thomas 
E. Watson, the champion of PopuHstic ideas when a Repre- 
sentative in Congress, rose to distinction in Augusta and 
throughout the country, but did not prove to be a man to Mr. 
Barrett's Kking. When the latter was the correspondent at 
Washington of the Atlanta Constitution, he became some- 
what famous for expressing his views regarding Representa- 
tive Watson, which were a bit severe; so much so, in fact, that 
the telegraph companies were at one time inclined to take up 
the question of covering their wires with asbestos to prevent 
the heat of Barrett's despatches from burning out the switch- 
boards. Mr. Barrett's ancestors came from Ireland, and rose 
to a place in the industrial affairs of Augusta. From 1888 to 
1897 Mr. Barrett represented the Atlanta Constitution at 
Washington, gaining for himself a reputation as a newspaper 
writer wliich is of much value to him as the head of his own 
paper in Birmingham. 

In stature, Mr. Barrett is short. He is of dark complex- 
ion, with a smiling face, which makes one think of a cherub. 
He has never been known to appear in any color of dress 
other than black. Oftentimes friends have suggested that he 

[46] 



EDWARD W. BARRETT 

change the color of his clothes, but he has proved adamant 
against advice on these lines. He is a positive character, 
not easily influenced. He has opinions of his own, but is not 
always inclined to express them. He is suflficicntly secretive 
to be classed among the safe and sane. He is known to 
exhibit a fier}' passion of antagonism when things do not go 
his way. In brief, in cases of this kind, he has been likened 
unto a cyclone. Like the listing of the wind, he soon calms 
down, and is the most placid and agreeable person in his 
community. He is fond of pleasures. He has the money- 
making instinct well developed. He lias made The Age- 
Herald a money-making enterprise. He took it at a time 
when business was at a low ebb and progress in Birmingham 
at a standstill. He got possession of the paper at the psy- 
chological period. Witliin six months after he assumed 
charge of the property liirmingham began advancing in 
wealth and population, as much as, if not more than, any 
other like municipality in the South. These growing forces, 
naturally, depo.sited their proportionate share of good times at 
the door of Mr. Barrett's newspaper. He has recently built 
a well-equipped newspaper building, making it a monument 
to his enterprise and the pride of the friends of the paper. 

Mr. Barrett is a Democrat. His ideal statesman, during 
the time he was located in Washington, was David Bennett 
Hill. In 1892, when Governor Hill was a candidate for the 
Presidency, Mr. Barrett was the most youthful delegate in 
the national convention. He was an enthusiastic advocate 
of the nomination of the dauntless Governor. He strongly 
opposed the nomination of Mr. Cleveland for the second time. 
This, no doubt, was brought about by his connection with 
the Atlanta Constitution, as that paper was hostile to the 
ascendency of Mr. Cleveland to the Presidency again. Dur- 
ing the war between Japan and China, Mr. Barrett went to 
the Orient as a correspondent. He was present at the battle 
of Wei-Hai-Wei, one of the most decisive engagements of the 

[47] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

short war between the two nations. The humorous part of 
the whole affair, however, was that after seeing the battle from 
its beginning to its conclusion, and having in his possession 
all the news incident thereto, neither of the military forces 
would permit him to cable a word of it to his paper. Upon 
his return from the scene of hostilities, he wrote a graphic 
description of the engagement. Another of his journalistic 
feats was his pursuit and capture of the notorious outlaw and 
bandit. Rube Burroughs, who for years had been a menace 
to the mountaineers living in Georgia, Tennessee, and Ala- 
bama. Mr. Barrett again participated as an enterprising 
news correspondent, in writing the story of a duel between the 
scions of two illustrious South Carolina and Georgia families. 
The proposed meeting of the belligerents was kept as secret 
as possible from the press and public, but Mr. Barrett's news 
instinct was up and doing. Not to be outdone by his hated 
rivals, he engaged, at his own expense, a special engine, and 
with all possible speed hastened to where he believed the 
encounter would take place. His judgment was unerring. 
He arrived in the nick of time, thereby securing a page story 
for his paper on the following morning. 

Mr. Barrett is companionable, a good entertainer, always 
hospitable about his home. He is a lover of good horses, 
and likes driving them at high speed. Like the majority of 
enterprising men, he has taken up automobiling, and is the 
owner of two or three of the finest machines that have ever 
been seen in the South. If he has any political ambition— 
that is, ambition for holding office— he has never made it 
known in anything like a public way. 



[48] 




JOHN BARRETT 

I RECTOR of the International Bureau of 
American Republics, headquarters in Wash- 
in.t^^on. Mr. Barrett was born in Vermont, 
cflucated at Worcester, Mass., and the Van- 
derbilt University at Nashville, Tenn., gradu- 
ating at Dartmouth College. Mr. Barrett 
formed an idea that the place for him to get 
a foothold was on the Pacific Coast. He 
did not go there as a passenger on any of the fancy, high- 
priced, luxuriously appointed limited trains that prevail at 
the present time, lie trawled according to his means, which 
was a day coach in day time and a sleeping-car at night. 
About the first thing he did after inhaling the refreshing 
ozone of the Pacific was to get a position as teacher at the 
Hopkins Academy, Oakland, across the bay from San Fran- 
cisco. To teach the "young idea how to shoot " was not 
quite in harmony with the temperament of the young Ver- 
monter. He took up newspaper writing, first in San Francisco, 
then later in Tacoma, Seattle, and Portland. It was here he 
obsen-ed the star of destiny of the Puget Sound country, and 
cast his fortunes with the happy people in the Xorth Pacific 
section. Mr. Barrett has a taste for the beautiful. He 
settled in Portland, Oregon, the city of flowers. In politics 
he was at that time a Democrat. He was young, handsome, 
ambitious, and the possessor of probably more than his share 
of ability for one of his age. He was introduced to President 
Cleveland, who knew something about picking out good men 
for Government positions. Mr. Barrett had a desire to 
become connected with the diplomatic service of the countr}^ 
President Cleveland appointed him minister to Siam, not for 

4 [49] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

the purpose of getting him as far away from the country as 
possible, but because he believed the young man from Oregon 
would fit into conditions in Siam better than any one he had 
seen. Later developments demonstrated the fact that Presi- 
dent Cleveland made no mistake. He was not long in Siam 
until he had made himself one of the most popular ministers 
the United States had sent there, and that is saying a good 
deal. He settled, by arbitration, a diplomatic matter involving 
three million dollars, which, in the negotiations conducted by 
him, redounded to the benefit of his countr}'. When Presi- 
dent McKinley assumed the reins of office, Mr. Barrett re- 
turned home. He was soon appointed special commissioner 
to investigate commercial conditions in Japan, Korea, Siberia, 
and India. Following this, he bobbed up as a war corre- 
spondent in the Philippine Islands. He was later appointed 
minister to Argentina, Panama, and Colombia. He filled 
these positions with the same degree of credit and dignity that 
had characterized his administration as minister to Siam. 

His career as minister to the South American and Central 
American states fitted him especially for the position of 
Director of the International Bureau of American Republics. 
He made a study of commercial conditions in those countries 
such as none other had made among those who were his pred- 
ecessors in his present office. He has done, probably, more 
than any other man in the United States in bringing about 
closer commercial relations between this country and all of 
the states of Central and South America. He has written 
scores of high-class magazine articles upon these subjects, 
which have attracted wide attention in the three countries. 
He has made the Directorship of the Bureau one of importance. 
It cannot truthfully be said of him that he is a figure-head. 
He is constantly doing something, and is a man of influence. 
He has probably been given greater latitude than any of his 
predecessors, but this he demanded before taking the office, 
well knowing that the only way to be a good Director is to 

[50] 



JOHN BARRETT 

direct, and not be dependent upon the whims of some superior 
Government official who knows nothing of the matters. Mr. 
Barrett is a frequent speaker at many important international 
and national gatherings. He possesses oratorical powers, which, 
no doubt, came to him naturally. When in Oregon, he was 
a youngster who was ever ready and willing to make a political 
speech when there was anybody around to listen to him. 
He spoke well, even in those days; therefore he was never 
without a good-sized and appreciative audience. He was 
equal to all emergencies. He could, figuratively speaking, 
clip the grass and knock otT the tops of the trees with the 
ease, grace, and dispatch of his orator}-. In some circles he 
was known as the "young man ckxjuent.'' 

Mr. Barrett is a whole-souled man. He carries with 
him at all times the dignity that is becoming to his official po- 
sition, but in manner he is polite, courteous, and democratic. 
He is fond of society, and society peopk* like him. He is at 
home wherever his hat is ofT. Intellectually, he is able to 
hold his own any place. He is smooth shaven, wears eye- 
glasses, and has little, if any, hair on the top of his head. He 
has never said this is the result of early piety, though others 
may think it is. He has a ditTerent suit of clothes for almost 
every day in the week. He is a familiar figure about the 
Capital. He is unmarried, and, no doubt, it is his fault that 
he is. He is never too busy to talk with acquaintances. He 
is good-natured and generous. He has an enormous capacity 
for work, but has time for sufficient recreation. He believes 
it necessary to get away from his desk at certain intervals 
every day and have a few hours of relief from dictating letters 
and other voluminous papers. He likes giving dinners to 
his friends. He makes a good presiding ofhcer at a dinner. 
He is witty in conversation. If he has any particular fancy in 
dress, it is to possess a large number of varicolored shirts. 
He is a well-dressed man. 



[51] 




PERRY BELMONT 

Statesman, politician, millionaire. Mr. 
Belmont is a fine representative of one of 
the influential families of an earlier period 
in the City of New York, and in the countr)\ 
His grandfather, Commodore Oliver Hazard 
Perry, was the naval officer who fought the 
Battle of Lake Erie against the British, dur- 
ing the War of 1812. It was one of the 
decisive battles, and one which figures largely in the impor- 
tant results of that briefly waged contest. Mr. Belmont's 
father, August Belmont, was, in his day, one of the leaders in 
the financial world of New York. The elder Belmont was 
a native of Continental Europe, who came to this country 
when a young man, as the representative of the great Roths- 
child's banking interests. He was a handsome, polished 
gentleman of the old school. He became one of the prime 
factors in the advancement of public affairs. He was one 
of the most prominent Democrats of his time, a leader in the 
Democratic party, and, in 1868, when Horatio Seymour was 
the Democratic candidate for President, chairman of the 
Democratic National Committee. He took a lively interest 
in politics, and it was but natural that his son should show 
an inclination to follow in the father's footsteps. The other 
sons, August Belmont and the late Oliver Hazard Perry 
Belmont, were inclined to engage in political affairs some- 
what, the former being one of the prime movers in naming 
Alton B. Parker as the Democratic candidate for President, 
in 1904. The third brother served one term in Congress. 
Perry Belmont entered Congress in the early eighties, when 

[52] 



PERRY BELMONT 

comparatively a young man. During the time he was in 
public life, he was prominent as a leader in his party. He 
served as Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
in the House of Representatives. IMr. Belmont was appointed 
by President Cleveland Minister to Spain. Since that time, 
he has not held ofhce, but has retained his position in the 
councils of his party. He was nominated for Congress since, 
but was not elected. He was in no way responsible for his 
defeat, and would, no doubt, have been the victor had it not 
been for disaffection in the party created and fostered by 
Tammany. 

Mr. Belmont is a Democrat of the old school of Democracy. 
He has never viewed with favor many of the isms that have 
crept into the organization. He has preferred standing upon 
the records of the Democratic party of the Fathers, and at 
no time has he joined with those who have ''chased rain- 
bows," as some term it. He has devoted several years, 
since retiring from public life, in his efforts to upbuild all 
of the political parties, in the hope that the expenditure of 
vast sums of money may be eliminated from political cam- 
paigns. He takes the position that it is one of the most cor- 
rupting agencies associated with the American form of gov- 
ernment. He championed a bill which he drafted, and which 
was introduced in Congress at his request and through his 
individual efforts, providing for the enactment of a statute 
compelling all political parties to make known the amount of 
contributions to campaign funds, and by whom these amounts 
are subscribed, before election day. He is a keen observer of 
political affairs. He is a Democrat from principle, and noth- 
ing could swerve him from strict adherence to what was 
taught him by his distinguished father and the men of his 
day. He has never been a man to thrust himself forward as 
a party leader or adviser, but prefers exhibiting a modesty 
that is pleasing to his associates. He is strong in his convic- 
tions, but wilHng to concede to his opponents the same right 

[53] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

and privilege in expressing their views that he claims and de- 
mands for himself. 

It is not Mr. Belmont's fault that he is classed among the 
rich men of the country. He, no doubt, views himself as 
comparatively a poor man, when he sees about him men of 
many classes counting their millions up into ten and more. 
Mr. Belmont inherited most of his fortune, though, by wise 
investments he has made, it has been increased and not dimin- 
ished. His wealth is sufficiently large to permit his indulging 
in foreign travel and living the life of a gentleman of leisure, 
if he so desires. Being the son of a many-times millionaire, 
it was not out of the way that he should contract habits 
of life that might seem extravagant to others. If there is 
any man in the United States who does not appear to be 
rich, it is Mr. Belmont. He is unassuming in manner, polite 
and affable to every one. He is a much-traveled man, and a 
man of polish. He was educated at the best colleges of 
America and Europe. It was the desire of his father that 
Perry should be the politician of the family and August the 
banking member of it. This original idea has been well fol- 
lowed, though each of the sons, undoubtedly, inherited some 
of their father's inclination to engage in managing and shaping 
political destinies. Mr. Belmont and his wife belong to what 
may be best known as the "Four Hundred" in fashionable 
New York society. Their names are upon the visiting list 
of almost every family in the United States that figures at 
all conspicuously in the affairs of fashionable society. He 
has recently built a very handsome residence in the city of 
Washington. In stature, Mr. Belmont is not large; he has 
a boyish-appearing face. He dresses in the best of taste, and 
usually in the latest fashion. He, apparently, has a system 
for everything he does. He is methodical and painstaking. 
When once interested in a matter, he pursues it with vigor. He 
is usually busy, and has always been a worker. 

[54] 




ALBERT J. BEVERIDGE 

•ENATOR BEVERIDGE is a distinct fig- 
ure in public life. When he was under 
forty years of acje he was, probably, the best- 
known young man in the United States. 
Many servants of the nation in the legisla- 
tive, executive, and judicial branches of the 
Government are as well or better equipped; 
some of them approach Beveridge in his 
master}' of the spoken word; but, less than any of them, Bever- 
idge, like good wine, needs no bush. If a single line were to 
appear on a bill-board in a Nevada town announcing that 
Beveridge was to speak there, few would not know the nativ- 
ity, the public office, and the reputation of the Senator from 
Indiana. Cummins, great though he is, even the Ciceronian 
Dolliver, both of whom are leaders in the progressive move- 
ment with which Beveridge is allied, would need an intro- 
duction to most audiences; Beveridge will need none. 

Two reasons may be assigned for this conspicuousness of 
the brilliant Indiana statesman : 

First, he bristles with that mysterious and compelling 
current called personality. 

Second, Beveridge has employed both the written and the 
spoken word. 

It must be remembered that the name of Albert J. Bever- 
idge is as familiar a superscription on magazine articles as that 
of Lincoln J. StefTens or O. Henry. Beveridge is a thinker, 
and he feels deeply upon public, moral, and religious questions. 
He possesses also a pleasant literary style; his career and 
his achievements have been pyrotechnic, and his views are 

[55] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

interesting to people, whether they range themselves on the 
right or on the left of the Indiana Senator. 

Many profess to be weary of Beveridge, and to set down 
as "excessive ego" his diction, his manner of speaking and 
writing, his carriage and his personality. The fact remains 
that there is no more interesting Senator to-day than Bever- 
idge, whether quiet or in action, whether in his committee- 
room or on the floor. He so typifies vigor, and his character 
is so unblemished, that to a nation surfeited with pursy, cyni- 
cal, money-grabbing politicians, Beveridge is a perennial 
well-spring of kindly and approving interests. To subtract 
Beveridge from public life would remove, aside from political 
considerations, a combination of brains and ginger, of vigor 
and performance, that is useful in the affairs of the Govern- 
ment to-day. 

Some patronizing newspapers, which have given Beveridge 
the title of "The Grand Young Man," have succeeded pos- 
sibly in presenting the Indiana man as a thin and aft'ected 
person, mincing words and language. But if there is any- 
where in public life a more muscular, athletic, blunt, and 
manly figure of a human being than Albert J. Beveridge he 
has not discovered himself to the writer. For Beveridge 
was bom and reared on a farm in Highland County, Ohio, and 
as his early childhood was spent during a war which had 
claimed his father and all his elder brothers, he knows the uses 
of adversity. He did the farm-work, and later in his youth 
he saw service as a "lumber- jack." Dispense with all ideas 
of soft beds, soft words, soft wages, soft hours, and soft heads 
when you think of lumber-jacks. But the fact that Beveridge 
was a good one is tradition, and its heritage is the grip of his 
muscular hands to-day. 

In Government, Beveridge has been allied with the causes 
of the people, as they are termed, since he was elected a Sen- 
ator in 1899. To keep in step with the swing of the State 
cf Indiana is testimony enough that a statesman is a public- 

[56] 



ALBERT J. BEVERIDGE 

spirited one. For Indiana is the clearest-headed and the 
most independent State, politically, in the Union, and in a 
conservative way it has usually advocated all the reforms 
that have been successful. Indiana is a party State, and 
whether it approves an entire falling away from old leaders 
and old methods is not yet understood. But they think before 
they vote in Indiana, and they know how to scratch tickets. 
That Beveridge has twice been elected Senator by the State 
of Harrison and Voorhees gives him a letter of credit in 
national affairs. 

Beveridge is an interesting man, physically. His frame 
is slight, but it is strapped and bound with strips of the tough- 
est kind of muscle. His shoulders are thicker than they are 
broad, and he has a quick, alert, graceful carriage that sug- 
gests lightning strength and plenty of endurance. His head 
is set high, and it is noticeable. It is a small head, but well- 
shaped. His hair is soft and thin; his complexion is florid 
and not marred by a beard, and his features are cut square 
and strong. 

Beveridge is a strong man, a very strong and able man. 
His oratory is of the best of our times, and his intellect is 
superior, indeed. 



[57] 



JOHN C. BLACK 




President of the Civll Service Commission 
of the United States Government. General 
Black is a picturesque-looking man, affect- 
ing the military in dress to a limited degree. 
He is, in fact, military in his bearing; there- 
fore, it is well the two should go together. 
General Black has been much before the 
country in various capacities, and in all the 
positions he has held, he can truthfully give a good account 
of himself. He rose to the distinction of a general during the 
Civil War, as the commander of forces of the Federal Gov- 
ernment. He was born in Mississippi, but when a young 
man, with his family, moved to Illinois. His ancestors, and 
his immediate family, were brought up in the school of South- 
ern politics. They did not take the ultra side in seeking to 
perpetuate the institution of slavery, but looked upon it from 
a rational point of view. General Black passed through 
several exciting campaigns in the war, and was at the head 
of his command in some hotly contested battles. He received, 
by far, more than his share of Confederate bullets, which 
for a great many years gave him intense pain, so much so 
that his life was despaired of. That he was a brave man 
no one has ever doubted or questioned. The services he 
rendered his country form an honorable part of the history of 
the Civil War. He was comparatively a young man when he 
donned the uniform of a Union soldier. He was a follower in 
the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln in the prosecution of the war. 
He did his duty, and did it well. In the course of time, he 
did, in a measure, regain his health. When this permitted, he 
engaged in the practice of law, and took a lively interest in 

[58] 



JOHN C. BLACK 

politics. President Cleveland, on the occasion of his first 
election, selected General Black for the position of Pension 
Commissioner. It was well that a man with the record of 
an honorable soldier should be placed in charge of the bureau 
having under its jurisdiction the distribution of money to 
those who had heroically served in the same capacity. His 
record as Commissioner of Pensions is unblemished. 

His next public office was that of a Representative in Con- 
gress at large from the State of Illinois. He proved in this 
capacity to be a man of e.xceptional ability. He is a fine 
speaker, as well as a convincing one. He has taken advanced 
positions in nearl\- (.'vt-rything which has transpired in the 
country in the past cjuarter of a centur}', calculated to bring 
about a better condition for the people in general. After 
retiring from Congress, President Roosevelt honored him with 
the appointment as President of the Civil .Service Commis- 
sion. It must be remembered that when civil-service reform 
was brought about in the United States, in the early eighties, 
it found little favor with those who were the party hewers of 
wood and drawers of water. They believed then, and some 
believe now, that those who win political battles should have 
preferment in the matter of holding public office. General 
Black may not have been unlike a large majority of both parties. 
He was appointed Commissioner of Pensions, partly because 
he was a worker in the ranks of the Democratic party, though 
his fitness for the office had been properly measured by Presi- 
dent Cleveland. Civil-service reform has become permanent 
in the United States. Those who may have been opposed to it 
in its infancy now recognize and appreciate the wisdom dis- 
played by those who placed it upon the statute books. New 
conditions have arisen. General Black, therefore, is in favor 
of civil service, and is making a fine Civil Service Commis- 
sioner. It is not an office in which the labors are arduous, 
but one that requires strict attention to duty. While a Demo- 
crat in politics, he knows no politics in his official life. 

[59] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

General Black is a tall, straight, fine-looking man. He 
walks with a slight limp, the result of a wound in one of his 
legs. His right arm hangs rather passively at his side, the 
result of other wounds. He likes chatting with his friends, 
and is usually a ready hstener to an interesting and proper 
anecdote, sometimes relating one himself. He seldom is 
seen in the street, except in passing from his home to his office 
in the morning, and returning in the afternoon. He lives 
a quiet, dignified life, devoting much of his leisure time to 
reading. He probably has a greater fondness for the study 
of history than any other recreation. There are few epochs in 
the history of the world with which he is not more or less 
familiar. He is an excellent host in his home, possessing the 
happy faculty of making even a stranger feel at ease, as though 
he were in his own home. It cannot be said that General 
Black has a particularly large number of really intimate 
friends. But those he has are of his own choosing, and 
most usually men not unlike himself in free, easy ways of 
companionship. While he has lived away from Illinois for 
some years, he keeps in close touch with everything of impor- 
tance going on there. He and ''Uncle Joe" Cannon at one 
time lived in the same Congressional district. General 
Black was frequently mentioned as the Democratic candidate 
for Congress, which was never pleasing to "Uncle Joe," who 
feared, possibly, that General Black would be too formidable 
an antagonist in the political arena, although the district was 
usually largely Republican in complexion. General Black 
belongs to that coterie of men who made history from 1861 
to 1865, the majority of whom are rapidly passing away. 



[601 




JOE C. S. BLACKBURN 

^ORMER Senator from the State of Ken- 
tucky. There are few people in the United 
States who, during the last twenty-five years, 
have not heard of, and read about more or less 
in the daily press, Joe Blackburn. From the 
time he was a young man, down to the pres- 
ent, he has been a commanding character in 
ever}' phase of life of which he was a part. 
The greater portion of his life has been spent in the political 
arena. He was elected to Congress for the first time in the 
early seventies. He was a young man in those days. He 
served with distinction in the lower House, and was, later, 
honored by his people with a scat in the United States Senate. 
He was elected to this body three times. Those who have 
had the privilege of knowing Senator Blackburn personally 
testify to his many excellent qualities. As a public speaker, 
he has been able to hold his own against any and all others 
who may be his contestants. Senator Blackburn's first call 
to national prominence was when he was a member of the 
House of Representatives. Being a member of the Commit- 
tee on E.xpenditures in the War Department, he, with others, 
made investigations concerning the conduct of certain affairs 
in the War Department, which resulted in one of the largest 
scandals that had been exposed during the eight years of 
the Presidency of General Grant. Upon this occasion, Sen- 
ator Blackburn showed to the country that as a public official 
he stood as the protector of the Government and the people, 
as against personal friendship. The affair involved the good 
name of a Cabinet minister, who, in the kindness of his nature, 
became ingulfed in the meshes of unfortunate procedures. 

[6i] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

Impeachment proceedings were instigated, but the prompt 
resignation of the Cabinet minister terminated the same. 
Senator Blackburn was among the most useful members of 
the lower branch of Congress for several terms. He stood 
as one of the giants of the Democratic party. Few men in 
public life have been more forceful in debate than he. He 
belongs to the old school of oratory. There have been few 
men in Congress during the past third of a century who were 
more gifted with accomplishments for debate than this gentle- 
man from Kentucky. He hails from a State famous for its 
great orators. 

During his term in the Senate, he met in the arena the 
best intellects in that body. His noted and now historic 
debate with the late Senator Ingalls, of Kansas, gave him the 
hallmark of having unusual command of the English lan- 
guage. His defense of the reputation of Gen. George B. 
McClellan, which had been attacked by the Kansas critic, 
was one of the real events in that high legislative body. Upon 
this occasion, he has been credited with having said more in 
fewer words than almost any other Senator who had either 
preceded or followed him. He has a fine, melodious voice, 
that never fails to command attention. He is tall, probably 
a bit over six feet high; erect and of superb appearance. After 
his retirement from the Senate, he was appointed by President 
Roosevelt, Civil Governor of the Canal Zone, in the Repub- 
lic of Panama. This position he also held for a year or more 
under the administration of President Taft. He voluntarily 
resigned to return to his old home in Versailles, Kentucky, 
where he is now living in leisurely retirement, surrounded 
by hosts of friends, many of whom were his boyhood com- 
panions. Senator Blackburn quit political life with clean 
hands. There is hardly a doubt that he had innumerable 
opportunities for the acquirement of wealth in ways which 
might have reflected upon his manhood. He preferred being 
poor, and thereby faithful to his constituents. He never, 

[62] 



JOE C. S. BLACKBURN 

apparently, cared much for money. His only desire for it 
was to meet the needs of an unostentatious life. Kentuckians 
are proud of Senator Blackburn, as they well may be. He 
has held aloft the banner of that commonwealth with credit 
to himself and honor to those who honored him. 

To view Senator Blackburn in his personal relations with 
his fellow-men would necessitate much greater space than is 
here permitted. During his long residence in Washington, 
as a representative and as a senator, he was one of the most 
conspicuous figures of a coterie of men recognized for their 
brilliant conversational powers. In the palmy days of John 
Chamberlin's famous hostelry, Senator Blackburn was usually 
the center of attraction when inside the walls of that historic 
meeting-place of noted men. As a story teller, Senator Black- 
burn is in a class quite by himself. His good nature is beyond 
limit. It is not believed that any one ever asked a favor of 
Senator Blackburn which he did not grant, if in his power. 
His generosity has always been far in excess of the size of his 
purse. He can count his friends by the thousands. It can 
be said of him, and truthfully, that he never turned against 
those who stood by him. He has always possessed the cour- 
age to speak out in meeting. If things in his own party did 
not exactly suit him, he would say so. In the campaign of 
1896, when there came a division in the Democratic party, 
Senator Blackburn followed the faction that nominated 
Mr. Bryan. He at that time made some political enemies 
in his own party, but he would not permit these differences 
to transgress upon personal relations. Senator Blackburn 
has never been seen in public appareled in other than the 
prevailing custom of the day. He is not extravagant on 
these lines, but he is always consistent. Nothing seems to 
delight him more than association with his old-time friends. 
For almost a third of a century he has performed many pub- 
lic acts, all for the good of the people, and all of them he has 
performed well. 

[63] 




SCOTT C. BONE 

'DITOR of the Washington Herald. Mr. 
Bone is a splendid representative of con- 
servative journalism. He has been identi- 
fied with newspaper life in Washington for 
a number of years. His first association 
with the public press at the National Capital 
was as news editor of the Washington Post, 
later managing editor, which position he 
occupied for nearly fifteen years. Upon retiring from The 
Post, he, with others, established the Washington Herald j 
which he has guided upon reasonable lines, making it a pub- 
lication reflecting credit upon up-to-date journalism. Mr. 
Bone is a native of Indiana. He was born in Shelby County, 
which was also the birthplace of Thomas A. Hendricks, 
elected Vice-President in 1884, and who, for more than a 
quarter of a century, was one of the leading Democrats of the 
nation. IMr. Bone began his journalistic career in the town 
of his nativity, under the tutorsliip of the late Scott Ray, who, 
in his way, was unique . in journalistic circles. Later, Mr. 
Bone advanced twenty-five miles farther to the West, In- 
dianapolis, known at the time of his arrival there as the 
"City of Concentric Circles." He first took service on the 
Indianapolis Sentinel, as a conscientious and industrious 
reporter. The manner in which he could, and did, chase 
the "festive item" from the Court House around the Union 
Depot to the Capitol building was one of the marvels of 
Indianapolis journahsm of that period. As he broadened 
his experience, his services to newspaper proprietors became 
more valuable. He had not been long at the capital of his 
State ere his ability as a reporter attracted the attention 

[64] 



SCOTT C. BONE 

of other newspaper proprietors, particularly Colonel William 
R. Holloway, who, in the early eighties, founded the Indian- 
apolis Times. Mr. Bone was made the city editor of this new 
publication, wherein he inau.t^rated many new features in 
local newspapcrdom. It was the desire of Colonel Holloway 
to make the best local paper Indianapolis had ever had, and 
in carr)'ing out his purpose he made no mistake in placing 
Mr. Bone at the head of the city department. In his 
enter{)rising way, he made Gideon B. ("Snax") Thompson, 
who for years was the recognized star reporter of the city, 
but connected with a rival pajx-r, sit up and take notice, and 
to do this was going some. Mr. Thompson was conceded to 
be a reporter of skill and achievements. It came to be under- 
stood that if *'Snax" did not get a piece of news, it was because 
it had not happened. **Snax" was long of legs and had the 
Argus nose for news. Mr. Bone set a swift paqe for his rivals, 
and in a ver>' short time the Times was on the highway of 
journalistic success and importance. Some Indianapolis 
friends of Mr. Bone became identified with the management 
of the Washington Post, and knowing his capabilities as a good, 
all-around newspaper man, they prevailed upon him to come 
to Washington with them. His record as a managing editor 
and editor has advanced him to a high position in journalistic 
circles throughout the countr}-. 

Mr. Bone is not a gentleman who advertises himself. 
He is retiring in disposition, and is seldom seen in public. 
During his business hours, which are usually from noon 
until three o'clock the following morning, Mr. Bone can 
be found at his desk. He is a prodigious worker, always 
careful and painstaking. He has never gone in for sensa- 
tionalism. It has been his aim to produce a clean, reliable 
paper, appealing to the better class of readers. He is ever 
on the lookout for the germ of Hbel, which may be lurking in 
any piece of news that comes to his paper; therefore, nothing 
is ever permitted to be printed until Mr. Bone has scanned 
5 [65] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

the proofs with his eagle eye. This shows conservatism, great 
industry, and sound judgment. He would, no doubt, rather 
that his paper should be "beaten" on a news event than 
print it without first being able to establish confirmation. 

During his residence in Washington, Mr. Bone has formed 
many strong ties of friendship with the leading men of the 
city. He has become identified with some of the financial 
institutions as stockholder and director. He has, for some 
years, been a member of the Gridiron Club, and at the present 
time is its president. He is probably five feet ten inches in 
height, weighing in the neighborhood of one hundred and 
ninety pounds. His hair is dark, slightly sprinkled with gray. 
He is round-faced, and would pass for a good-looking man 
wherever seen. He wears a short mustache. In conversa- 
tion he is quiet. He has comparatively little to say. He is a 
good listener, and not over quick to make up his mind. He 
is inclined to think a thing over before he acts. In an execu- 
tive capacity, he maintains strict observance of every rule for 
the better government of his establishment. He demands 
faithful service, and has little use for those who are not will- 
ing to render to him a good account of their stewardship. 
Being modest and unassuming, he may, at times, seem a bit 
distant, but it is hardly intentional. It is one of those 
things he cannot overcome. Mr. Bone is usually seen in 
business clothes. It would not appear that he gives any 
particular attention to the matter of dress. He is a friend of 
modest colors, and even when substituting the old garment 
for a new one, the effect is so quiet that often the change is 
not observable. He is a lover of, and loyal to, home institu- 
tions. He believes in spending his money where he makes it. 
His close confinement to business has prevented his becoming 
anything of a traveler. Mr. Bone's home life is ideal. He 
married when living in Indianapolis, his wife being the 
daughter of the late Col. W. R. Meyers, who served for several 
terms in Congress, and was later Secretary of State of Indiana. 

[66] 




WILLIAM O. BRADLEY 

^S LIFE wears on and men grow old, many 
idols are shattered and many ideals seem 
vain. The instance of a man who has real- 
ized his ever}' ambition in life is so rare 
that few of us can know such men. They 
should be generous, grateful, and merry, and 
if United States Senator William O. Bradley, 
of Kentucky, is a fair instance, then so they are. 
For Bradley has realized what, as a boy, he used to dream. 
And when he lay out on the hillsides in Garrard County, 
before the Civil War, it was a roseate dream indeed that 
could picture a Kentucky Republican being elected Governor, 
or Senator of the United States. Earlier, Bradley had resolved 
to be President, but it was not long after reconstruction days 
that the youth understood that not in his lifetime, perhaps, 
would there be a President from the land south of the Ohio. 
He gave that dream Ixick to the fairies, and said that he would 
be Governor and Senator, anyhow. 

Now, during the war Bradley, aged thirteen, had thrice 
run away from home to join the Union army, and thrice his 
father had spanked liim and taken him back. Something 
of tliis steadfastness of purpose lived through the spankings, 
though, for the boy, growing up in Eastern Kentucky during 
the late si.xties, held to his dreams. His father was a famous 
la\^yer of that day, and he schooled his jovial son in that 
profession. And early in his manhood the future Governor 
showed an ability to make friends, and a quality to keep them, 
that amazed the most popular public men. Small fights 
passed with var\ing results, because the State was Demo- 
cratic, and Bradley's Republicanism was a small snowball 

[67] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

in that time. But by and by it began to grow, and 1870 found 
Bradley county attorney of Garrard. 

Two years later he won the Republican nomination for 
Congress in the old Eighth District — the bailiwick of McCrear)^ 
and Hardin — and he was defeated. In 1876, he was defeated 
for Congress again. But all this while his stumping and his 
enthusiasm, his personality and his brain, were having their 
effect on the people of Kentucky, and giving Bradley a national 
reputation for tenacity and ability. Six elections as delegate 
at large to Republican national conventions, and a great 
seconding speech for Grant, in 1880, put him further into 
the public understanding. Thus, when the national con- 
vention of 1888 gave him 105 votes for Vice-President, people 
did not ask: ''Who is Bradley, of Kentucky?" They knew 
that a dogged, able young Republican by that name was cut- 
ting down Democratic majorities in Kentucky, and they were 
willing to watch him. His race for Governor of his State, 
in 1887, was a beautiful one, and when the returns showed 
a Democratic majority of 17,000, compared with the 
previous Democratic majority of 47,000, the Republicans 
of national prominence understood that a lion-hearted man 
was making the kind of fight for principles that might win 
in the end. 

When, in 1889, without any solicitation on the part of 
Bradley, a Democratic Senator from Kentucky — Beck — 
indorsed him for Minister to Korea, and a Republican Presi- 
dent appointed him, every one who had been watching the 
pioneer Kentucky Republican was glad that a good place, at 
$10,000 a year, was his. But Bradley saw opportunities 
in Kentucky for him that only a practical idealist could have 
seen, and he remained at home. 

Sure enough, in 1895 Bradley was elected Governor of 
Kentucky by nearly 9,000. It was astounding. The papers 
were full of the liistory and the personality of the first Repub- 
lican Governor of the old Bluegrass State, and the Kentucky 

[68] 



WILLIAM O. BRADLEY 

delegation to the i8g6 convention, that nominated McKinley, 
indorsed Bradley for President. To him it was only a for- 
mal courtesy, for he determined to cling to his ideals and look 
forward only to the Senate, for which he had been defeated 
several times. He ser\'ed his State well in its capital, and 
it was Bradley who preached order and obedience to law 
during the Goebcl troubles, that discredited Kentucky Repub- 
licans and Kentucky Democrats alike for several vears. 

Then, out of otTice, following his bent as a lauyer (and 
Bradley is a distinguished one), the former Governor removed 
to Louisville, hoping still that he would accomplish his fmal 
aim, and sit in the scat of Clay and Carlisle and Beck. In 
1908, after a long deadlock and a heart-breaking struggle, 
he was elected to the Senate by a Democratic legislature, and 
he is there now. 

It is, ever}' bit, romance, this life and career of William 
O. Bradley. Harl he taken his principles less seriously and 
his personality less humorously, he might never have been 
anything but a man who could not arrive. But he was en- 
dowed witli a Rabelaisian wit, the divine gift f)f seeing him- 
self as others saw him. and a capacity for public speaking, 
for handling men of all sorts, that must be the attributes of 
ever}' pubhc man who has conquered the odds which Bradley 
faced in his youth. Then his endowment included, too, a 
rigorous sense of honor, an unconquerable honesty, and a 
fine equipment of bluntness that drew the admiration of all 
men. 

Bradley sits now in the Senate which he used to photo- 
graph for himself against the forested sky-line of Garrard 
County. He is a short, thick man, with a fine head and a 
pair of luminous brown eyes that tell his life stor}\ They are 
the eyes of a dreamer, but a practical one, and the Senator 
is still dreaming dreams at sixty-five. He will not be a can- 
didate for re-election to the Senate, and so he plans now to 
deliver a lecture as his last contribution to the forum. It is 

[69] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

to be termed: "The Inspired Documents of the World — The 
Bible, the Magna Charta, and the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence," and it will be a good lecture, too. 

As he sits in the Senate, his eyes twinkle with the rills of 
fun and happiness that run always through his heart. Ken- 
tuckians of all faiths and of all parties are proud of Senator 
Bradley, and the best tribute they pay him is this: 

''He is faithful to his friends." 



[70] 




WILLIAM J. BRYAN 

\' \VA^' of illustrating the spirit in which 
what follows is written, imagine that a large 
fund is placed in trust to be disposed of 
fifty years hence. The fund is to go to the 
heir of the one who, at the present time, 
most accurately and briefly portrays the 
character and public services of William 
Jennings Br}'an; the decision to be given 
fifty years from now. 

It is not what prejudiced critics or over- zealous friends 
are saying of him to-day, but what history will say of the 
Democratic leader fifty years from now, that most concerns 
Colonel Br}'an. Those who are content to flit their brief 
moment in a superficial satisfaction before passing into obscur- 
ity probably think this selfishness upon the part of the great 
Commoner. There are those who would say it was selfish 
to wish for heaven. Such persons only demand a leader who 
will aid them in a material way, and, no doubt, honestly 
believe that only momentary success in life counts. If con- 
sidered at all, how will these citizens look under the micro- 
scope of fifty years from now ? 

Broad thinkers, who disagree with Colonel Bryan politi- 
cally, say that he is too far ahead of his time. As history 
shows that all great reforms require years of agitation before 
being enacted into law, might not history vindicate the Colonel 
for ha\'ing taken time by the forelock? Surely, in his 
comparatively short lifetime he has been liberally rewarded 
for his display of foresight. '* Policies" advocated by Col- 
onel Br^-an, early in his political career, which were pro- 

[71] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

nounced as anarchistic by political opponents, were adopted, 
years afterward, by the political enemy, and are now on the 
statute books. 

As a political vehicle upon which to ride into power, no 
doubt Colonel Bryan will be classed as unsuccessful. He is 
not always a good judge of human nature, for he fails to com- 
prehend the selfishness of men. He is apt to place too high 
an estimate on poor, weak human nature, and therefore, 
at times, may seem intolerant to those who do not fully under- 
stand him. Too often he insists on judging others by his own 
high standard. When he discovers his mistake, he is likely, 
for a brief moment, to be inclined to peevishness. However, 
the Christian spirit, ever dominant in Bryan, never permits 
his sHghtest anger to take form in words, unless for the sake 
of the public good, and then, even, no personal resentment is 
in the least manifested. 

So far as a place in history can be assured, the Democratic 
leader stands on velvet — an abundance of velvet, at that. 

Believing that he can read his title clear, how funny the 
persons who continue industriously, year after year, trying 
to write him into oblivion must appear to Colonel Bryan. 
They can keep him out of the Presidency, but not out of 
history. 

In fifty years Bryan will far outrank William E. Gladstone, 
as a Christian statesman, and as a laborer in the Lord's vine- 
yard he will appear more than the equal of Spurgeon — who 
was Bryan's father's ideal man. 

A safe measure to take of the Nebraskan is to consider 
the love and affection that the people of Canada hold for him. 
Here are a friendly people along our own border, entirely 
free from political prejudices. They do not recognize him 
as a politician — only as a Christian statesman of world-wide 
sympathy. 

The chief justice of Ontario, after listening to an address 
by Colonel Bryan, on the "Power of Love," remarked: "He 

[72] 



WILLIAM J. BRYAN 

seems as one inspired. I am proud that I live on the same 
continent with him." 

The best-known editor in Canada said on the same occa- 
sion: "No matter how they may disagree with Bryan politi- 
cally, there is no such word as ' expediency ' in his vocabulary, 
where a principle is at stake." 

A citizen of the United States, who was present, answered : 
"That is exactly why the pohticians in Colonel Bryan's party 
object to him as a leader, although as a man they have all the 
more respect for him." 

The best insight to the Bryan character on this point is 
furnished when he returned from a trip around the world, 
and a great reception was tendered him. Before he had 
landed in New York City, and the night before the Madison 
Square Garden reception, he was informed that practically 
every leader of his party was greatly opposed to anything 
being said about the Government ownership of railroads. 
Whether Mr. Bryan was considering the advice of his leaders, 
is unknown; but if he had been, he quickly reflected it after 
hearing Augustus Thomas, America's most celebrated play- 
wright. Advance copies of Mr. Bryan's speech were in the 
hands of the press associations. Mr. Thomas had gone to 
Staten Island, where Colonel Bryan remained prior to being 
received by thousands of his countrymen. Thomas wished 
Bryan to hear his address of welcome, which he was to deliver 
the following night. 

As Bryan listened to the reading of the great playwright, 
tears welled in his eyes. 

"How can I ever live up to the picture you have made of 
me?" asked Bryan, with the simphcity of a child, when the 
eloquent playwright had finished. 

"You have in a most powerful way emphasized my duty," 
continued Bryan. "I will deliver my speech to-morrow 
night as it is prepared. What does the value of one human 
life amount to, where the welfare of a people is concerned?" 

[73] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

The part of the speech which moved Bryan to this remark was 
where Mr. Thomas compared the courage of the Nebraskan 
to the Spartan boy who permitted his bowels to be eaten out by 
a fox. 

Bryan used frequently to tell in his speeches about Speaker 
Cannon and other leaders of the Republican party caHing him 
a dreamer. As an answer, he gave in an inimitable way the 
story of Joseph and the corn. His recital clearly indicated 
that whenever Bryan is in great doubt as to a course to pur- 
sue, he invariably goes to the Bible for his guidance. 

According to the difference in population between now and 
then. Washington and Jefferson each had as many critics 
as Bryan. But there was a great difference in the character 
of them. The critics of Washington and Jefferson were 
generally controlled by their passions, aroused by the excite- 
ment of the time. A very large proportion of the pens 
employed to assail Colonel Bryan are wielded by persons 
who respect him, and what they do in attempting to blacken 
his name is for pay furnished by predatory wealth. This 
is a more refined but more cold-blooded way; that's all. 

No matter how the number of these critics and back- 
biters may multiply, they will in no way sour the Colonel's 
naturally sweet disposition. Indeed, he has frequently been 
known to attempt to find excuse for some of them. Even 
occasionally, if one of them does rile him, his fine sense of 
humor comes to his relief. 

A man (gold Democrat) who is now frequently spoken of 
as a Democratic candidate for President, was suggested to 
the Nebraska statesman for a running mate, in 1908. 

"How does he strike you?" the Colonel was asked. 

"He strikes me every chance he gets," was his reply. 

The conversation quickly changed to other channels. 

A Democrat who had been almost brutal in his attacks on 
Bryan, and who, finally, became a RepubHcan office-holder, 
was quoted to the Colonel one day by a friendly political 

[74] 



WILLIAM J. BRYAN 

simpleton. "That man has been so unfair and persistent 
that I was once nearly provoked into saying something about 
him personally," said Bryan. *'But he taught me a good 
lesson. If I could go without speaking evil of him, I was not 
likely ever to be tempted to speak evil of any one else." 

If a newspaper attack upon Mr. Bryan contain some- 
thing clever, he apparently enjoys it. Once, when he took 
for the subject of his address, ''Thou shalt not steal," the 
New York newspapers seemed to be particularly bitter on 
him. Even for New York papers, the attacks were so fierce 
that those about Colonel Bryan hoped he would not read 
them. As he said nothing, and seemed to be in his best humor 
following the publication, it was hoped that he was unaware 
of them. That he had carefully read them was made known 
the next night, for he referred to them in a poHtical speech. 

"I made an address in New York, last night," announced 
the Nebraskan. "My subject was: 'Thou shalt not steal.' 
This morning I found, upon reading the newspapers, that all 
the editors felt that I had personally insulted them." 

The editor of a great weekly paper, a few years ago, 
made a really clever speech, "grilling" Bryan. The Colonel 
remarked: "That is a strong speech from a conservative 
standpoint ; but, fortunately for me, the speech concludes with 
eulogies of Rockefeller and Morgan." 

What has been said of his ambition to be President is, 
probably, greatly exaggerated. No doubt, each time that 
he was defeated, he felt the pangs of disappointment. Bryan's 
desire to reach the WTiite House is certainly not purely per- 
sonal. In 1906, a friend was, for the first time, standing on 
the broad veranda of Fairview, Colonel Bryan's beautiful 
Nebraska home, examining the grand scenery. The visitor 
must have shown great enjoyment over what met his gaze, 
for the Colonel remarked: "You seem to like it." 

"I'd rather be here than at the White House," replied the 
visitor. 

[75] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

''Exactly the way I feel," said Bryan. ''I do not want to 
be President, except the position would enable me to do a 
great deal of good for the people." 

Colonel Bryan's capacity for work is equaled only by the 
capacity that he possesses for enjoying life. His energy 
is as remarkable as any of his other powers. He is by 
instinct and training very industrious. In some ways he 
has made out of himself a machine. He can go to sleep 
under any and all circumstances, as soon as he lays his head 
down. He seldom sleeps longer than the time he intended. 

In every-day life Mr. Bryan is like the Scotch-Irishman 
so familiar to the South in General Jackson's time, and wery 
famihar in Canada to-day. He is prudent, methodical, and 
always religious. Maybe a little too strict regarding per- 
sonal conduct, from the viewpoint of the gilded youth of 
to-day. 

Where individuals are concerned, Bryan is the most for- 
giving of men. He is broad in all his thoughts, but a stern 
disciphnarian. 

The writer has seen Bryan face death without a quiver. 
It was in a runaway, where every minute it looked as if his 
brains would be dashed out. He has seen Bryan, by less than 
half a minute, miss a train which was to take him to an impor- 
tant engagement, and he not even frowned. With all the 
courage of a lion, he possesses the gentleness of a woman. 

In refusing an invitation to shoot deer, recently, Mr. 
Bryan said: 'Tt takes a deer too long to die after being shot. 
Unless for food, I \^ill never shoot another." 

The personal good that the Nebraska statesman accom- 
plishes by his lectures is incalculable. After each lecture, he 
receives scores of letters — mostly from young men, asking for 
advice. Many of the letters contain ''hard luck" stories. 
Much of this correspondence Mr. Bryan answers with his 
own hand, while traveling on a railroad train. Often he 
works this way when tired and in need of sleep But he 

[76] 



WILLIAM J. BRYAN 

regards it as a part of his life's mission, and, in consequence, 
many a life is made happier and better. 

A generous proportion of Mr. Bryan's income goes to 
striving educational institutes; to maintain scholarships, and 
to pay for missionary work. 

In conclusion, for the next few years the splendid health 
of Mr. Br}'an, the power he derives from religion, and his 
ever-increasing acquaintance and prosperity should be given 
careful consideration. In such a condition a man has not 
attained his full height. Bryan is fifty. He would not be 
old at seventy, barring accidents. 

Parties may come and parties may go; but Bryan will 
continue following the Golden Rule, and his example will 
be felt the whole world over. 



t77l 




THEODORE E. BURTON 

to BE an unquestioned authority in one's own 
lifetime must bring joy and a feeling of much 
responsibility. And that Senator Theodore 
E. Burton, of Ohio, is happy, cannot be 
doubted; nor can there be any question that 
the Senator understands his responsibility 
to the nation. For Burton, before he was 
fifty years old, was the last word on matters 
concerning the improvement of rivers and harbors, and that 
finality of information and judgment he has held to this day. 

When Burton was appointed chairman of the Rivers and 
Harbors Committee of the House, wherein he served for 
many years, he took rank, at once, as a dispassionate and 
altogether just student of those problems. During his ser- 
vice on the committee in a rank other than chairman. Burton 
had been a systematic and careful worker. Earlier training 
as a college professor, in the great University of the Western 
Reserve, had disciplined him in profound research, and also 
in the art of presenting facts properly. As chairman of the 
committee. Burton pursued his labors with the avidity which 
must have characterized the famous delving of old Schliemann 
among the ruins of ancient Troy. He became an authority 
on these questions, and, having mastered them, having learned 
everything that could be found out about the waterways of 
the nation, and how properly to develop them, Burton turned 
his attention to the legislative side of the matter. 

The bills were gloriously, then, what all public-spirited 
statesmen are trying to prevent them from being to-day — 
"pork-barrels." A pork-barrel is a free-for-all, a pass-it - 
around sort of measure, which will provide $250,000 to develop 

[78] 



THEODORE E. BURTON 

Goose Creek, although the only past, present, and possible 
traffic for Goose Creek consists of dead leaves. Burton set 
out to limit appropriations to projects which would carry 
the traffic of the nation. He wanted to develop system- 
atically, in a year-after-year manner, the endless Mississippi, 
the broad Ohio, the mud-barred Missouri. After these were 
completed, all the appropriations should be turned to smaller, 
yet worthy streams, argued Burton; but until the big rivers 
were properly channeled, he wanted the bulk of the legis- 
lation to go to them. 

Until 1909, Burton, who is a wonderfully capacious worker, 
labored with his rivers and harbors. He traveled on them, and 
up them and down them and through them. He studied the 
waterways of countries oversea. He made his speeches on the 
subject classics. No Congressman presumed to question any 
information or statistics, if Burton stood sponsor for them. 

Then Burton, in 1909, though in line, it is believed, for 
the next Speakership of the House, was called to the Senate 
by Ohio, to succeed that brainy and brilliant man, Joseph B. 
Foraker. A month before the legislature convened, there 
was not the slightest attempt, possibility even, of defeating 
Burton. 

In the Senate he had to begin all over again with his 
rivers and harbors. Not that he did not know them as well 
from the Senate standpoint; but the new Senator must be 
content with low rank on committees. The famous ''pork- 
barrel" of 1910, which remembered nearly 300 districts out of 
392, and spent $52,000,000 to sweep so far, was not passed 
until Burton had pruned it of several squandered millions, 
and had indicated to the President that if he, Burton, were 
President, he would veto the measure. 

But Burton's work will go marching on. Some of his 
books on rivers and harbors will be read by the engineers of 
the year 2000. He has become an authority in his own time, 
which means that Burton has done something for his country 

[79] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

during his lifetime, has done a distinct something; that his 
contribution to legislative affairs cannot be measured by glit- 
tering phrases or by vague praises. 

Other things have occupied the Senator — the financial 
problem, for instance. He has written a book on this, too. 

In Ohio, Burton is considered a man who is against the 
boss in pontics as a system of government. His home city 
of Cleveland has several times elected him on that under- 
standing. Once he ran for mayor of Cleveland, against the 
famous Tom L. Johnson. 

He had hardly found time to rub his wounds after this 
defeat when he was elected to the Senate. During the 19 lo 
Ohio State Convention, Burton became embroiled in a con- 
troversy with George B. Cox, the Republican boss of Cin- 
cinnati. Cox charged that Burton had entered into a deal 
with him to give the nomination for governor to a Cox man. 
Burton denied the existence of any such deal. He set him- 
self, he announced, to dispose of Cox and all bosses as a force 
in politics. Ohio believed in his side of the question, and 
went with him. As a man is regarded at home, he frequently is. 

A tall, heavy man, much stooped, but powerful-looking; 
keen eyes, long features, a thin, gray mustache; endowed with 
little hair and considerable baldness; courteous in demeanor, 
but able to be stern on occasion. Burton is as Senatorial-appear- 
ing a man as sits in the chamber of the upper house. He is 
scrupulous about his appearance, and, though he is a bachelor, 
Burton has never, in Washington, been seen with a spot on 
his coat or a thread on his shoulder. So limitless are the 
ingenuities of man! 



[80] 




CAPTAIN C. C. CALHOUN 

^'WVl'ER, Washington, D. C. Captain Cal- 
houn possesses the trait of never giving up. 
During his life, he has done everything with 
a purpose. He is comparatively a young 
man, born in about the middle sixties. The 
State of his nativity is Kentucky. He is a 
descendant of Scotch-Irish Presbyterian par- 
entage. He is a member of the same family 
as was John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, the apostle of 
State rights during the time he was in public Hfe. Captain 
Calhoun is the kind of man who is destined to succeed. 
He was brought up on a farm. He had the courage to go 
forth into the world with a capital of but fifteen dollars. At 
twenty-one, when he did this, he was determined to ob- 
tain an education. He worked his way through college, 
and worked hard. He did almost everything that was honor- 
able, even to digging ditches, constructing patent fences, 
and, for a time, hired out as a harvest hand. Nothing satis- 
fied him short of a collegiate course. He made good from the 
very start. After he had finished his collegiate course, he 
did not have to go hunting around for a position. He became 
a professor in the college where he was educated. This 
speaks more for a young man than can be told by a few lines 
in type. Later, he became the head of the commercial depart- 
ment of what is now known as the Lexington Business College, 
which, through his energy, was built up to one of the best in the 
South. In good time, he was admitted to the bar as a prac- 
ticing lawyer. Captain Calhoun is not without a military rec- 
ord, though the country has been at war for but a few months 
during his lifetime. The beginning of his military experience 
6 [8i] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

was at the State University of Kentucky. He was twenty- 
two years of age when this happened. He knew as little 
about war and military tactics as any young man in the State. 
His superiors readily observed that young Calhoun was an 
organizer. His first military command was that of a com- 
pany of the smaller boys of the university — the so-called 
incorrigibles of the student body. The university authori- 
ties found in young Calhoun a handy kind of a man, as it 
were. When they wanted this outlaw element, so to speak, 
brought under military discipline, he was the one they called 
on to do it. They believed young Calhoun could do it, and 
he did. At first, the company was regarded as somewhat 
of a joke, but long before he had it so whipped into 
shape that it was regarded as one of the best disciplined 
companies in the University. Afterward, he helped to 
organize and was elected captain of a State guard orga- 
nization, which did valiant service for the commonwealth 
on several occasions, incident to the assassination of Gov- 
ernor Goebel, and other uprisings in the mountain sections, 
where feuds have existed between families and factions for 
many years. 

Captain Calhoun had so endeared himself to the State 
authorities that when emergencies arose calling for quelling 
disturbances he was usually selected as the one to insist that 
peace should prevail, though it had to be brought about by 
the force of arms. There have been several times when 
the civil authorities in Kentucky have been unable to cope 
with the leaders of warring factions to such an extent that 
the military has been called into service. Conditions similar 
to these have arisen in nearly every other State in the Union ; 
therefore, Kentucky is no exception. As above stated, Cap- 
tain Calhoun is a handy man to have around when there is 
something doing. His record as military commander in the 
mountain districts of Kentucky is too well known to require 
extended notice at this time. He has, on several occasions, 

[82] 



CAPTAIN C. C. CALHOUN 

brought the warring factions under control, forcing them to 
recognize the majesty of the law, and be good. When the 
City of Frankfort, the capital of Kentucky, was in the throes 
of the great excitement following the assassination of Gov- 
ernor Goebel, Captain Calhoun was a factor that had to be 
reckoned with by the insurgent element. He had been put 
in a responsible position by Governor Beckham, who after- 
ward was given the office of Governor by decision of the 
Supreme Court of the United States, declaring him the right- 
ful occupant of the ofiQce. Those were troublesome days at 
Frankfort. Captain Calhoun was young, cool, and courageous. 
For one of his age, it might be supposed that he would not 
be able to '^kcep his head." There is no record of his not 
showing, at all times, a mature judgment, seldom equaled 
by men of twice his years. If there were a hazardous com- 
mission to execute, Captain Calhoun was the man selected for 
the job. It is registered of him, that he was never found 
wanting in any assignment given him. 

It is not, however, as a military man that Captain Cal- 
houn commands attention. He is ever a lover of peace, if 
peace has to be brought about by a fight. He became con- 
nected \\dth the military, more from necessity than otherwise, 
as there were great questions to be settled, and for a time, it 
seemed that the only way they could be adjusted was by 
bloodshed, or at least an effort to shed it, if occasion required. 
Following his retirement from a military connection, he set- 
tled down to the practice of law, with the determination to 
make a success of it. He had not had time to acquire much 
money, but was, nevertheless, set in his ambition, although 
his military career had brought him under the observ^ation 
of the Governor, who commissioned him to perform a service 
for the commonwealth, which probably changed the current 
of his legal practice. 

After Governor Beckham had become installed in office, 
and had famiharized himself with the State's affairs, he dis- 

[83] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

He had done something no one else had ever done. Ken- 
tucky needed a new capitol building. It was practically 
erected out of the money Captain Calhoun collected, cost- 
ing just about the amount embraced in the two checks. 

This experience led the Captain into like endeavors for 
other States. Massachusetts had a similar claim against the 
United States. The Governor of that State had heard of 
Captain Calhoun's triumph, with the result that he was made 
assistant to the Attorney General, and his services were 
engaged to represent the old Bay State in that capacity, which 
he did, and in which he was also successful. He undertook 
a like service for the State of Missouri, in which he was again 
successful, meeting the highest approval of both former Gov- 
ernor Folk and the present Governor, Hadley, the first engag- 
ing his services, the latter giving high commendation for the 
fruitful results. As an untiring worker. Captain Calhoun 
is not believed to have any superiors. He not only works 
hard, but with a purpose. He does not lose time, from the 
simple fact that he pursues a business system. He has been 
employed to prosecute claims against the Government, in 
addition to Kentucky, Missouri, and Massachusetts, for Ala- 
bama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, 
Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, 
Tennessee, and West Virginia. In the Kentucky case. Cap- 
tain Calhoun was successful in establishing precedents for 
the adjudication of this character of claims; consequently, it 
would seem that in the future his labors will be compara- 
tively easy. He did not find it necessary to employ any 
lobbyists or anything of the kind. With him, it was a matter 
of clean business methods, and a question of law. If the 
law did not make the payment of the claims possible, of 
course they were not presented; but where there was legal 
standing, all claims were presented upon this basis. It can 
readily be seen that Captain Calhoun has acquired, by his 
industry and incessant labors, probably a tidy fortune, but 

[86] 



CAPTAIN C. C. CALHOUN 

there is no one to dispute the fact that he had honestly 
earned it. 

Captain Calhoun is modest and unassuming. His suc- 
cess did not enlarge his dome of thought. When he Hkes a 
person, he likes him; and if he doesn't like him, he doesn't. 
He is genial, but not effusive. In his friendships he is loyal. 
He has not had opportunities to indulge himself in many 
things, except business. He is always well dressed, some- 
what inclined to be precise in this, as in everything else. He 
has no desire for the flashy in dress, preferring, at all times, 
the use of quiet and modest colors. He is in the neighbor- 
hood of six feet in height, rather slender, weighing probably 
one hundred and sixty-five pounds. He resembles in char- 
acteristics, and possibly in appearance, what might have 
been one of his ancestral Scotch Covenanters. He is proud 
of his ancestry, as he well may be, the Calhoun family being 
among the most eminent in the United States. 



[87] 




JOSEPH G. CANNON 

^TEAL your humor out of Rabelais; your 
personal traits take from some fox-hunting 
squire of the old Virginia days; construct 
your stature from a Napoleonic cavalry 
captain ; your language filch from some states- 
man of the times of Andrew Jackson, and 
the lay-figure which you will assemble will, 
in many ways, resemble that remarkable man, 
the Speaker of the National House of Representatives, Joseph 
Gurney Cannon. But you must add the picturesqueness of a 
Maine headland, and a thousand and one components of the 
compelling thing we call personality, to have any idea of the 
type of man that is Joseph Gurney Cannon. 

For years Cannon has been the favorite plaything of the 
storm and of the battle. As a young lawyer in Illinois, his 
blunt tongue made him enemies, and threw rocks in his 
progress, but they were rocks that protected him from any 
descent, once he had surmounted them. As a young Con- 
gressman, he met the criticism of those to whom his bold 
diction and methods were amazing. As floor leader of the 
House Republicans, he led the toughest of battles, and there 
was never a better floor leader that any one now in the party 
remembers. As Speaker, he has borne the brunt of all the 
evils laid to the Republican party, and he has come out of 
it all one of the most unusual human beings that this nation 
has evolved. 

For Cannon is a great man. He will live in history, and 
for many different reasons. The last three years of his Speaker- 
ship have produced the most significant movement in the his- 
tory of his party. But it was not because Cannon was Speaker 

[88] 



JOSEPH G. CANNON 

that it came, nor because his last three years were, in any 
measure, featured by a change in his presidency over the 
House. The movement came because the great West found 
itself, because the nation had tariff grievances, because new 
ideas as to the cloaking of the Speakership were receiving 
favor in certain portions of the country, and because there 
were personal animosities to be aired. 

Squarely, the Speaker met this movement. His Con- 
gressional experience had been passed under Randall and 
Crisp and Reed and Carlisle and Henderson, all wielders of 
powers which in the case of Cannon were called czarlike. 
He did not believe in the triumph, as he expressed it, of 5 
per cent in the party over the 95, and he attempted to crush 
the movement, variously termed insurgency and progressive- 
ism. He saw the combinations of the members of this move- 
ment with the minority in the House, recognized that, together, 
they constituted a majority of their own, and he never failed 
to call attention to this phase. In his view, this was wrong. 
It was not a Republican majority which was effecting the 
wishes of the 5 per cent, and the Speaker advised and worked 
against it. He never compromised, he spared no language. 
He believed sincerely that the movement would grow so 
drunken with power as to cast down the entire Republican 
party. As Cannon is frankly a partisan, he opposed this 
tendency. 

"Let us fight out our factional differences in the caucus," 
was his cr}', "and not join with the enemy to defeat ourselves." 

He found his position apparently unpopular, but he 
believed that exposition would win the Republican voters 
to his side. So out in the terrific summer of 19 10 went this 
man, aged seventy-four, who bore himself like a boy, and 
spoke with the ring and the ardor of thirty-five. As this 
book goes to press, the results of his labors are not known, 
but this prediction can safely be made: 

When Joseph G. Cannon passes from public life, there 

[89] 




JOSEPH G. CANNON 

JtEAL your humor out of Rabelais; your 
personal traits take from some fox-hunting 
squire of the old Virginia days; construct 
your stature from a Napoleonic cavalry 
captain ; your language filch from some states- 
man of the times of Andrew Jackson, and 
the lay-figure which you will assemble will, 
in many ways, resemble that remarkable man, 
the Speaker of the National House of Representatives, Joseph 
Gurney Cannon. But you must add the picturesqueness of a 
Maine headland, and a thousand and one components of the 
compelling thing we call personality, to have any idea of the 
type of man that is Joseph Gurney Cannon. 

For years Cannon has been the favorite plaything of the 
storm and of the battle. As a young lawyer in Illinois, his 
blunt tongue made him enemies, and threw rocks in his 
progress, but they were rocks that protected him from any 
descent, once he had surmounted them. As a young Con- 
gressman, he met the criticism of those to whom his bold 
diction and methods were amazing. As floor leader of the 
House Republicans, he led the toughest of battles, and there 
was never a better floor leader that any one now in the party 
remembers. As Speaker, he has borne the brunt of all the 
evils laid to the RepubHcan party, and he has come out of 
it all one of the most unusual human beings that this nation 
has evolved. 

For Cannon is a great man. He will live in history, and 
for many different reasons. The last three years of his Speaker- 
ship have produced the most significant movement in the his- 
tory of his party. But it was not because Cannon was Speaker 

[88] 



JOSEPH G. CANNON 

that it came, nor because his last three years were, in any 
measure, featured by a change in his presidency over the 
House. The movement came' because the great West found 
itself, because the nation had tariff grievances, because new 
ideas as to the cloaking of the Speakership were receiving 
favor in certain portions of the country, and because there 
were personal animosities to be aired. 

Squarely, the Speaker met this movement. His Con- 
gressional experience had been passed under Randall and 
Crisp and Reed and Carlisle and Henderson, all wielders of 
powers which in the case of Cannon were called czarlike. 
He did not believe in the triumph, as he expressed it, of 5 
per cent in the party over the 95, and he attempted to crush 
the movement, variously termed insurgency and progressive- 
ism. He saw the combinations of the members of this move- 
ment with the minority in the House, recognized that, together, 
they constituted a majority of their own, and he never failed 
to call attention to this phase. In his view, this was wrong. 
It was not a RepubHcan majority which was effecting the 
wishes of the 5 per cent, and the Speaker advised and worked 
against it. He never compromised, he spared no language. 
He believed sincerely that the movement would grow so 
drunken with power as to cast down the entire Republican 
party. As Cannon is frankly a partisan, he opposed this 
tendency. 

"Let us fis^ht out our factional differences in the caucus," 
was his cry, "and not join with the enemy to defeat ourselves." 

He found his position apparently unpopular, but he 
believed that exposition would win the Republican voters 
to his side. So out in the terrific summer of 19 10 went this 
man, aged seventy-four, who bore himself like a boy, and 
spoke with the ring and the ardor of thirty-five. As this 
book goes to press, the results of his labors are not known, 
but this prediction can safely be made : 

When Joseph G. Cannon passes from public life, there 

[89] 



130 PEN PICTUKES OF LIVE MEN 

will go a man whose public integrity, whose private practices, 
whose straightforward expressions, whose blunt and uncom- 
promising enmity to what he believed wrong will so appeal 
to the soberer judgment of the second thought that there will 
be sincere regrets for the good red blood which flowed out 
with Joseph G. Cannon. 

As we have said, Cannon was seventy-four years old dur- 
ing the winter session of the Sixty-first Congress. Yet of all 
that body, he was the one man whose speech could fill and 
entertain a gallery, whose appearance on the floor for the 
purpose of addressing the House was sufficient to bring 
every lagging member into the chamber. His beautifully 
constructed sentences, his agile feats of delivery, his winning 
gestures and his fine understanding of all the tricks of a really 
great and effective orator made his rare speeches, both on the 
floor and ex cathedra, bright patches in a session rather dull 
drab as to oratory. 

And how he could make copy for the newspapers; what 
good copy, too! The newspaper man in Washington who 
had little to write about welcomed a chance meeting with 
the Speaker. 

''What about the insurgents, Mr. Speaker?" he would ask 
Cannon, as I heard one ask one day at the White House. 

In this instance. Cannon was, as usual, faultlessly dressed. 
Here is an evidence of why he provides copy. His face was 
pink with health and with the cold; he wore a carnation in 
his buttonhole; an astrakan coat, long and swagger, flared 
back from a gray suit of the finest fit and texture. On his 
white hair was poised what seemed to be an old slouch hat. 
But it was, in fact, a new and well-kept hat, careless only in 
its tone, an important point about the entire character of 
Cannon. Of course, there was the cigar. 

This was in the time when Cannon was known from coast 
to coast as "Uncle Joe." When he was asked about the 
insurgents. Uncle Joe, be it then, paused, looked whimsi- 

[90] 



JOSEPH G. CANNON 

cally at the newspaper man, swung his cigar on a trolley of 
smoke into a remote comer of his lips, and began to wave 
his hands. He has beautiful hands, taper and white. He 
described little elhpses in the air as he spoke, standing up 
close to his auditor, giving slight turns to his body as he rose 
on his toes and sank to his soles again. 

"My test of a party and an individual," said Cannon, "is 
regularity." 

And he spoke for a few minutes, but it made a column in 
the papers. Another would have gruffly declined to answer; 
a third would have made a vacuous reply; a fourth would 
have begged "the boys" not to say they had asked him. 

A reason for the popularity of Cannon is that most Ameri- 
cans have a sense of, and appreciate a sense of, humor. It is 
impossible to consider an ogre the man who enjoys a joke 
on himself as intensely as he does one on you. Muck-rake a 
public character how you will, if he have the wit of Reed and 
the humor of Cannon, he will own thousands of followers. 

One day the newspaper delegation at the White House 
hailed the Speaker as he was leaving. He complained to them 
in his whimsical way that he had too much correspondence 
ever to answer. It was about the time that Colonel Roose- 
velt announced, through the Associated Press, that he could 
not answer all his correspondents, and some one suggested 
to the Speaker that he do hkewdse. 

"And then cut down some trees and pitch hay," added a 
satirist of the Rooseveltian forms of recreation. 

"If I had four times my present abihty, as has Theodore," 
said Cannon, "and one-fourth his ability to strike the keys 
of all the world, I should say, with a certain Senator out West: 
'God rested when He made me, and was glad.' " 

"You mean Beveridge! " shouted some one; but the 
Speaker considered that they who did not guess correctly, 
need not. 

To be what Cannon is, to have filled his columns of space 

[91] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

and to have used up, as he has, so many photographic plates, 
to go for a vulgarian among many people, a blasphemer 
among others, a statesman among more, would indicate a type 
of stature and appearance far different from the real. At 
seventy-four, the Speaker is dapper, a strange word, it seems, 
to those who have only read of Uncle Joe. He is short and 
slight, and well-groomed. His face is high and angular, with 
the eyes of a real humorist, twinkling and usually seen only 
amid wrinkled pools of flesh. He wears no mustache, but 
a short, all-around beard covers his jaws and chin. 



[92] 




ANDREW CARNEGIE 

'OMETIMES called the Steel King of the 
World. This may be a fanciful appellation, 
which is no doubt pleasing to Mr. Carnegie. 
He is, however, willing to concede that Herr 
Krupp, the great German steel- and gun- 
maker, was, during his lifetime, a man who 
knew something about the steel business, 
and the one who manufactured more, per- 
haps, than any other one person in Europe. Mr. Carnegie 
was born in Scotland, and is as Scotch in his manner and cus- 
toms to-day as if he had lived in North Britain all his life. 
He spends, however, about half his time in England and 
Scotland, and, when in the latter, is domiciled at his famous 
Skibo Castle. It is here the steel baron, Andrew, lives 
according to the customs which prevailed in feudal times. 
When in America, Mr. Carnegie suits himself to conditions 
existing on the western side of the Atlantic. When on his 
native heath, he transforms himself, as to customs, into alto- 
gether a different man. The great steel-maker can look 
from any window in the turrets of his castle, no matter in 
which direction, and see thousands of acres of heather, all 
his own. The moors about Skibo Castle are in a high state 
of cultivation. The great Andrew is roused from slumber 
every morning by a bugler, dressed in the full regalia of a 
Scotch Highlander. He discourses sweet music for the 
refined ears of the Laird, hearing which it would be hard 
to believe that he had ever been accustomed to the vulgar 
noises in and about Pittsburg. That Mr. Carnegie is a man 
of striking characteristics, the general people are willing to 
concede. That he is a giant intellectually has long since 
been established in public opinion. Mr. Carnegie was not 
exactly lucky in his beginning, but in many respects he showed 
that he had more and better wisdom than many others. Begin- 

[93] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

ning life at the lower rung of the ladder, he climbed by easy 
stages; but there were numerous times when he came near 
falling. Occasionally, it was to progress three rounds, slip 
back two. He was able, however, to overcome all obstacles 
and reach a much higher point, as a man of wealth, than he 
had ever anticipated. His wisdom taught him to take advan- 
tage of the iron and steel conditions at the most opportune 
time. The marvelous growth of the country turned a stream 
of gold into the lap of the little Scotchman. 

Mr. Carnegie's first employment was as a messenger boy 
to a telegraph company. Local history about Pittsburg is 
silent as to whether he was, or was not, a quick messenger 
boy. The chances are, he was not. When he should have 
been outside delivering messages, he was upstairs in the 
operating-room, learning the intricacies of telegraphing. He 
was not long in becoming an efficient operator. Then he 
put aside his blue uniform and took on the airs of a real, 
sure-enough man engaged in one of the great industries of 
the country. As a telegraph operator, he soon became con- 
nected with the telegraph service of the Pennsylvania rail- 
road. Here was the turning-point in young Carnegie's life. 
In those days most of the division superintendents were taken 
from the staff of telegraph operators. Thomas A. Scott, 
then president of the Pennsylvania railroad, observed Car- 
negie, his industry and his bright mind. Mr. Scott was ever 
on the lookout for good material, and he found in Carnegie a 
young man quite to his liking. The latter became a good 
division superintendent, and while in this position came in 
close contact with a large number of progressive iron men of 
Pittsburg. Mr. Carnegie did not take kindly to earning a 
mere salary, when it was possible to go into business on his 
own account and hazard chances on the future. His history 
in the iron and steel world is too well known throughout 
the United States to call for more than a mere passing obser- 
vation. Many people claim that Mr. Carnegie, in the acquire- 

[94] 



ANDREW CARNEGIE 

mcnt ot his stupendous fortune, has progressed far beyond 
his deserts. This view of his case will not bear analysis. If 
there had been no great demand for steel, Air. Carnegie might 
have gone back to running trains on the Pennsylvania road. 
The product which he makes enters so largely into ever>' 
phase of human hfe that it is the demand for it, and not Mr. 
Carnegie's high sense of vision, that has made it possible for 
him to become one of the rich men of the world. 

Mr. Carnegie got close to Thomas A. Scott by telhng 
him amusing stories. In higher circles of the Pennsylvania 
railroad, the little division superintendent was sometimes con- 
sidered in the light of an official jester. Whether bubbling 
over with humor or not, Mr. Carnegie never lost sight of the 
one great essential, and that was, to do what he had to do, 
and do it well. It would be a bit difficult to list, among the 
men of the country possessing bright and quick minds, one 
more so than Mr. Carnegie. His hair and beard have long 
since been whitened by the requisite numbers of winters 
and summers, but with all this, he is as active and spry to-day 
as he was twenty-five years ago. It can truthfully be said 
of Mr. Carnegie that he is, indeed, a man among men. When 
in the United States, he dresses, always, becomingly, often 
wearing a long-skirted coat, and sometimes a stove-pipe hat. 
He wears kilts when in Scotland. His hobby for giving libra- 
ries to cities has cost him several million dollars, and he seems 
pleased that it has. He is as generous in providing books for 
the cities and towns of the United Kingdom as he is in the 
United States. He does not dislike having his name appear 
over the entrance door. This shows a little bit of vanity, 
but in this respect he is not unlike the average run of man- 
kind. Mr. Carnegie is usually in a good humor. He is as 
much at home in discussing religion and politics as he is in 
telling his workmen how to make steel. He thoroughly enjoys 
being rich. His one ambition in life is to die poor. His 
fortune is so large that it keeps him busy giving it away. 

[95] 




THOMAS H. CARTER 

ENATOR in Congress from the State of 
Montana. Nobody is more aware of this 
fact than are the people of that State. Sen- 
ator Carter has a peculiar and happy adapt- 
ability of letting people about him know 
what is going on, yet he is sufficiently secre- 
tive, at least for all political purposes, though 
he is most usually out in the open with every- 
thing he does. Though Montana has been good to Senator 
Carter, no one questions that he has long since paid his debt 
with interest. There has never been any needed legislation 
for the citizens of the State that Senator Carter has not 
attempted to place upon the statute books. Senator Carter 
was born in Ohio. He is certainly not ashamed of it, yet 
he never seems to swell with any particular pride when jour- 
neying across that commonwealth. He believes there is no 
State in the Union like Montana. When he turned his face 
toward the fast-fading trail of the Indian, he had no inten- 
tion of going as far west as Montana. He thought Illinois 
and Iowa would about meet his then youthful ambitions. 
The wanderlust, however, was strong. He trudged along 
until he came to Helena. Just why he should have put down 
his carpet bag in this particular lonely spot on the great high- 
way between the two oceans has never been known, and 
probably never will, unless it be that he was in search of quiet. 
When the future Senator declared himself a citizen of 
Montana, and had come to stay, he was the pioneer of a new 
enterprise, that of selling books; yet it would appear that the 
people of Montana had less use for books than almost any- 
thing else. At any rate, he made the book trade flourish. 

[96I 



THOMAS H. CARTER 

If there was a man or woman in the Territory — it had not, at 
that time, been admitted into the sisterhood of States — who 
could read, and there were lots of them, Mr. Carter was there 
with the goods, so to speak, to show them the light in the 
latest novelty in literature. His was, in truth, a campaign of 
education. It was while peddling books that he took on 
habits peculiar to a politician. In the art of hand-shaking, 
it could be said of him that he was bom to it. The neces- 
sary adjunct to the career of a successful man in politics, 
that of kissing the babies, was acquired by Mr. Carter, with 
despatch, if not always with neatness. Mr. Carter, as the 
advance agent of literature, became as well known through- 
out the Territory as was the man who was then filling the 
office of Governor. Mr. Carter's personality proved his for- 
tune. As a talker, either in private or public, he was able to 
hold his own with any man in the West. When he could talk 
five dollars out of a brawny miner wearing a red flannel shirt, 
for the latest book on the market, who much preferred spend- 
ing his cash for whisky, it was an achievement that few men 
could hope to attain. This demonstrated Mr. Carter's per- 
suasive powers. In talking books and selling books, Mr. 
Carter began building up a reputation throughout the Terri- 
tory. He also began making money. When the book trade 
became dull, he turned his attention to the political field. 
Presently the book business passed into the control of others, 
leaving Mr. Carter a full-fledged aspirant for public office. 
He began by being elected a Delegate to Congress. 

After two years of life in the National Legislature, Mr. 
Carter saw there were other political worlds to conquer. He 
was particularly fortunate in having for his best friend Ben- 
jamin Harrison, elected President in 1888. It was at the time 
Mr. Carter was sent as a Delegate to Congress. President 
Harrison took a liking to him, appointing him, later. Com- 
missioner of the General Land Office. There were still higher 
honors for him. President Harrison selected him as Chair- 

' [97] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

man of the National Committee in the campaign of 1892. 
Defeated, but not crushed, he returned to Montana. This 
proved to be a halcyon period for Mr. Carter. The Terri- 
tory was taking on Statehood importance, and in good time the 
once progressive premier in the advancement of literature 
in the Rockies came to Washington clothed with the dignity 
of a United States Senator. He was defeated for re-election, 
but that, apparently, made no difference to him. Four years 
later he came again before the legislature with his usual cheer- 
ing smile, stroking his chin whiskers, asking to be returned 
to Wasliington. There was not a party voice against it; his 
persuasive powers as a talker were ever with him as a Senator, 
as they had been in the busy marts of glorified literature. 

Senator Carter may, in a sense, be styled an old-fashioned 
politician. Nothing seems to please him more than to go 
among the people of the countryside and hear them talk of 
public affairs and public men, especially himself. He can 
take his share of political punishment, but there are times 
when he is inclined to hoist the red flag of rebellion, partic- 
ularly when opposition editors make personal warfare on him. 
When Senator Carter is a friend, it is only some unusually 
indiscreet act which may cause him to change. He has his 
share of patience ; he is loyal to his friends, and expects loyalty 
in return. Senator Carter began showing the strands of 
silver in his hair when a young man. Personally, he does 
not look unlike the prevailing representation of Uncle Sam 
in the comic papers. The only beard on his face, which is per- 
mitted to cover his chin, is gray and a bit long, which he 
strokes gently with his left hand with that degree of affec- 
tion which history relates is characteristic of the patriarchs. 
Few men would think of asking Senator Carter who makes 
his clothes. He is given to having his waistcoats cut a bit 
low— lower than the rules of fashion usually prescribe, which 
gives a broad, expansive show of shirt front. It may not 
be quite ethical to state it, but it is a fact, Senator Carter 

[98] 



THOMAS H. CARTER 

chews tobacco; but it is so neatly done, no one would suspect 
it. He is a man of remarkable powers of endurance. This 
was shown when he made a speech in the Senate lasting over 
four days, at which time he put to sleep for that session a^graft- 
ing River and Harbor bill. On the stump Senator Carter is 
at his best. He can be serious one moment, and bubbling over 
with humor the next. As a vote-getter, he is well at the^'head 
of the procession. As an after-dinner speaker he is among 
the best of the public men of Washington. 



[99] 




JOHN BRECKINRIDGE CASTLEMAN 

JMONG the intrepid young men who made 
possible the four years* resistance by the 
South to the superior numbers and equip- 
ment of General Grant, consider John 
Breckinridge Castleman, of Louisville. To 
be sure, he is not now a young man. His 
hair, his silken mustache and imperial, all 
are white; his high-colored face is lined with 
wrinkles; his graceful shoulders are stooping — everything 
about him, but his heart, is old. But in 1861 General Cas- 
tleman — he was plain John B. Castleman then — was a youth 
of twenty, and, having been bom in Fayette County, Kentucky, 
where lived the celebrated General John Morgan, it was 
natural that "Breck" Castleman should ally himself with 
the great cavalry leader. 

His intrepidity showed well during the opening years of 
the war, and Castleman rose to command Morgan^s old 
regiment. He was then put in charge of an expedition to 
liberate all the Confederate prisoners in Illinois and Indiana. 
So desperate was the undertaking, and so noted for valor were 
the men who engaged in it, that when Major Castleman was 
captured, he was placed for nine months in solitary con- 
finement. In 1865 he was paroled on condition that he 
remain out of the United States forever. 

What lot could have seemed more severe than that of 
the gallant young Kentucky soldier! He went to Paris for a 
while, studying there, longing always for the home land and 
for his native State and its customs. At length he was pardoned 
by President Johnson, and he returned to live out his life in 
Kentucky. 

[ 100] 



JOHN BRECKINRIDGE CASTLEMAN 

As a citizen of Louisville and of Kentucky, General Cas- 
tleman has been variously celebrated, but his military con- 
nections after the Civil War have probably lent him much 
of his fame. He was adjutant-general of Kentucky when 
Proctor Knott was governor; he commanded the state sol- 
diery during the troublous times about the Goebel assassi- 
nation; he led the First Kentucky Volunteers to the Spanish- 
American War; and President McKinley nominated him 
for brigadier-general of volunteers. As an example of how 
entirely the nation's need, in 1898, closed over the gulf of the 
Civil War, take this illustration of General Castleman: the 
dashing Confederate of 1864, exiled from his country because 
of his attempts to free Southern prisoners, offered a generalcy 
in the army of the united nation of 1898 by a Republican 
President. Castleman laid down his arms after the Goebel 
trials, nor has he again resumed them; but were there ever a 
crisis in Louisville that demanded an experienced military 
hand and a presence at once the handsomest and the stern- 
est in the State, the cry would be for "Castleman." 

It is the opinion that General Castleman is the most com- 
plete gentleman in Kentucky. This designation requires 
a man of inches to uphold. But perhaps, some day, ob- 
servers may have the pleasure of seeing the General enter 
his office at Fourth and Main Streets, and then they will 
understand. General Castleman is a composite physical 
type of Bayard, Sir Philip Sidney, Prince Rupert, and 
D'Artagnan. Militarism is his essence. In manner he 
suggests, for ease, Grandison; for courtliness, Edward VII. 
He stands over six feet, and his frame is lithe and well-modeled. 
In his uniform, he was always the greatest joy of his men. 
To see the General riding before them made them better 
and more enthusiastic soldiers. He was the idol as well as 
the physical ideal of his followers into Indiana and Illinois, 
in the dashing days of the Confederacy. Were a painter 
to seek — in all the high coloring, in the patrician cast of every 

[lOl] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

feature, and the soldierly turn of every line — an apotheosis 
of the Confederate officer, out of a multitude he would choose 
John B. Castleman. 

General Castleman's prominence in Louisville, and his 
stirring experiences in the Kentucky militia, have made him 
an important reference book, as it were, on many occasions. 
Frequently a newspaper man, ''stuck" with some uncom- 
pleted review at two o'clock in the morning, finds that he 
must either waken General Castleman or drop the story. 
He usually chooses what the General would have him choose, 
and the charming old gentleman is aroused from his slumbers 
by the night-bell. 

''Men who are angels up to midnight," says an old-time 
newspaper man, "would snarl and snap at the reporter, and 
would refuse to answer his questions. But not the General. 
No, sir; he invites you in as if it were about time for the demi- 
tasse, excuses himself for a moment, trots out cigars and 
something to drink, sits down, looks at a fellow kindly, and 
says: 'Now, sir, what can I do for you, sir?'" 

It's an intimate picture, and a true one. Maybe there 
have been altogether more useful, more valiant, more hand- 
some, more lovable gentlemen since this world began to roll; 
but you cannot carry that assertion with those who are for- 
tunate enough to know John B. Castleman. 



[102] 



CHAMP CLARK 




HAMP CLARK came into the world the very 
day Daniel Webster made the plea for Sec- 
tional Political amity, March 7, 1850. Hence, 
it is something in the nature of a coincidence 
that in mature life the Democratic leader 
should take the "God-like Daniel" as the 
text for one of the finest lectures that have 
ever delighted an audience of the American 
Chautauqua. This production of Mr. Clark, a Southerner 
from core to skin, is a decided hit in New England, a sec- 
tion on which Webster shed so much honor, and to which he 
gave so much fame. When Mr. Clark was a small boy he 
stole away from school, in Anderson County, Ky., and attended 
a murder trial, in which J. Proctor Knott appeared for the 
accused, and the future great jurist, Mordecai R. Hardin, 
was the attorney for the commonwealth. It was a battle of 
the giants, and that small boy of ten drank in every word that 
was said, understood every argument that was made, and was 
simply bewitched by the brilliant and persuasive eloquence of 
those two legal Titans. 

As he trudged home that evening, fearful of the recep- 
tion his parents would accord him for playing truant, he was 
yet in a fever of enthusiasm, and then and there he resolved 
that should he attain to man's estate, he would acquire an 
education and become a lawyer. His was a strong intellect, 
his a robust physical constitution, his an athletic physical 
structure. Firm of purpose, that boy "set his mig" and went 
to it. Perhaps it was the better for him that he was a child 
of poverty, dependent on his own exertions to carve out his 
fortune. That fact only strengthened his resolution and 

[103] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

stimulated his ambition. He never faltered, but moved right 
on in the path he had blazed. And so Champ Clark gradu- 
ated with distinguished honors from Bethany College, that 
had for president the most wonderful man who ever preached 
the gospel in the Western hemisphere, Alexander Campbell, 
the founder of a sect that is grown to be one of the greatest 
churches of the Protestant faith. Jeremiah S. Black and 
James A. Garfield were members, and Champ Clark is as 
much of a Campbellite as he is a Democrat, if that be possible, 
which is doubtful. By and by Clark, after teaching to get 
money on which to live— and he was the youngest college 
president our country ever saw — was admitted to the bar 
and began the practice of the most exacting profession of 
all. In order to live and support himself and wife, he 
edited a newspaper at his home in Pike County, Mo., and 
there was never the slightest doubt as to the politics of it- 
Democratic, sizzling hot off the shovel. He was successful 
at the bar, and plunged into politics. In 1890 he was elected 
to Congress, and for twenty years he has been a conspicu- 
ous national figure— statesman, orator, scholar, publicist. 
His is the most suggestive mind. His memory is powerful, 
accurate, and retentive, especially for facts, and it is, perhaps, 
true that he has stored in his capacious mind more of that 
political history we call curious than is possessed by any 
other public man now living. In this respect he was unsur- 
passed by the late David Turpie, even. Given a fact that 
strikes his fine and comprehensive imagination, and Champ 
Clark grapples with it, seizes it, devours it, digests it, assim- 
ilates it, and it becomes a part of the man forever. 

Clark is a man of ceaseless industry, and his magnificent 
physique and splendid health enable him to do an enor- 
mous deal of labor, especially mentally. He has long prom- 
ised a history of Missouri that would be one of the most read- 
able books in American letters. That other untiring worker, 
W. C. P. Breckinridge, the man best fitted to write the his- 

[104] 



CHAMP CLARK 

tory of Kentucky, long contemplated it, but never found the 
time. Clark is now in his zenith, mentally, and has scarce 
emerged from his prime physically, and he owes it to Mis- 
souri and Missourians to tell the story of that "Imperial 
Commonwealth." Nor is that all. He has long contem- 
plated writing a life of Thomas H. Benton, but politics and 
the lecture platform have prevented. He is a remarkably 
versatile man and a charming public speaker. But Champ 
Clark shines best in a melee on a field day in the House of 
Representatives. That is his theater. There he is grand — 
where quarter is never sought, and would not be given if asked. 
In action, Clark is superb — none of the flowers of rhetoric for 
him. He never gets on his feet unless he knows his side of 
the question. Stalwart, commanding, Ajax-like, his partisans 
press around him. The other side of the House is all atten- 
tion, and opponents brace themselves in their seats and prepare 
for the shock. It is a rather awkward attitude, and his words 
are homely, but strong — very strong. When he makes a more 
than usually emphatic statement — and everything he says 
is emphatic, pronouncedly so — he bends over his desk and 
shakes his head from side to side, like a terrier shaking a rat. 
That is Champ Clark when answering the foremost debaters 
on the Republican side of the House. This man will go far. 
He aspires to the highest honors, and would fill any station 
with credit to himself and profit to the people. His integ- 
rity is as stem as his social side is genial, and the country is 
likely to hear a great deal more of Champ Clark the next 
decade than it has heard in the past double decade, and that 
is not little. 



[105] 




HENRY D. CLAYTON 

'ePRESENTATIVE in Congress from the 
Third District of Alabama. This man would 
be prominent in any company, political or 
social, of which he were a member. He is 
not only gifted with intellect, but he has a 
force of character that will not be denied. 
Balzac says that one must propel himself 
through this hfe like a cannon-ball, or glide 
through it Hke a pestilence. Henry D. Clayton is the cannon- 
ball. The son of as gallant a soldier as ever led his division 
to the charge in the great war of 1861-65, ^^^ ^^ ^ woman 
who might have been ''wife to Hercules," as one will dis- 
cover who reads her charming book, descriptive of master, or 
rather mistress, and slave during that trying period, entitled: 
"White and Black under the Old Regime." Mr. Clayton is 
a Southerner of Southerners, and reminds one of the fig and 
the vine. He is a man on the threshold of the prime of Hfe, 
and he is one of the leaders of his party in Congress, of which 
he has been a distinguished member seven terms. He is of 
a lawyer as well as a soldier race. His father was as able 
at the bar as he was intrepid in the field, and he is a nephew 
of that grand old jurist, James L. Pugh, who was so long a 
leading legal luminary of the United States Senate, second 
even to none in that body as a constitutional lawyer. Henry 
Clayton is a handsome and commanding man, as well as a 
forceful personality. He is a leader, too, because of a marked 
individuality, a strong will, a clear conception and a power- 
ful conviction of right. That would force integrity upon him 
if he were not so richly endowed with that attribute by nature 
as well as by environment. Indeed, his honesty is so blunt 

[106] 



HENRY D. CLAYTON 

that sometimes the stranger, for a while, is repulsed by the 
candor and perhaps the dogmatism of his speech, but soon that 
charming personality sets all aright, and every one beholds in 
Mr. Clayton a man who strives to serine his country and who 
does serve it as God has given him the light to see his duty. 
Since Mr. Clayton has been in Congress he has been 
of the minority, but his force of character, backed by a native 
intellect and professional training, has brought him prom- 
inently before the people. He exercises great influence in the 
councils of the Judiciar>' Committee, and every minority 
leader, from Bailey to Clark, has sought his ''advises," as 
Bums calls it. In 1908, he was the permanent chairman of the 
Democratic national convention at Denver, and during the 
campaign of that year he was active in the councils of the 
Democratic party. WTiile one of the most genial of men, 
his society eageriy sought by Republican statesmen as well 
as by Democratic, and thus much of his time is com- 
manded, Clayton finds time for study, and whenever an 
important legal question arises in Congress, whether a thing 
of party politics, or only a matter of general policy, he is in 
the forefront and one of the strongest debaters of either side. 
While a partisan of partisans, he does not rush in blindfolded. 
He must have a base of supply in the storehouse of common 
sense, and as for a line of retreat, he leaves that to care for 
itself. If his party shall attain power, the country is des- 
tined to hear a great deal of Henry D. Clayton, who, young 
as he is, is already a national figure. He would grace the 
Supreme Bench itself. 



[107] 



JUDSON C. CLEMENTS 




'ember of the Interstate Commerce Com- 
mission of the United States Government. 
Mr. Clements is a representative of that 
conservative, yet progressive, element that 
served their section of the country in Con- 
gress, after those of a more radical turn of 
mind had disappeared from the scenes of 
action, following the rehabilitation of the 
South, some ten or fifteen years after the close of the Civil 
War. Mr. Clements is a native of Georgia. He was but 
sixteen years old when the gun that made a noise around the 
world was fired at Charleston, on the 14th of April, 1861. 
As young as he was, he enlisted as a private in the Confederate 
service, retiring at the close of hostilities as a first lieutenant. 
As soon as he could, he became a practicing lawyer. He 
served in the Georgia legislature, first as a Representative, 
later as a Senator. For ten years he was a Representative 
in Congress from that State, retiring in 1891. Shortly after 
this he was appointed to a place on the Interstate Commerce 
Commission, which he has filled with signal success. He 
has been commissioned to a seat upon this tribunal by four 
Presidents, which in itself is high commendation of his 
integrity and ability. When a Representative in Congress 
he took rank, from the beginning, as one of the real strong, 
forcible men in that body. Mr. Clements is not a man who 
goes around preceded by a brass band. He knows his duty, 
and there has never been a time when he did not perform it 
well, and to the satisfaction of those interested. As a mem- 
ber of the Interstate Commerce Commission, he has gained the 
distinction of being, probably, the best-informed member 

[108] 



JUDSON C. CLEMENTS 

of the body on the intricate and complex methods of operating 
railways. At no time has he been regarded by the railway 
interests as other than fair and just ; yet it is conceded of him 
that he stands as a faithful representative of the people in 
their relation to the highways of steel. He has written some 
able papers upon the railway situation in America for many 
of the best publications, which have attracted universal atten- 
tion. When the question of the Government being given 
more authority in the matter of control over the roads was 
brought forward, which was led by President Roosevelt, Mr. 
Clements proved himself a worthy assistant in contributing 
valuable information, which made it possible to bring to the 
attention of Congress the needs of the people upon these and 
kindred subjects, which resulted in the enactment of the 
so-called Hepburn Rate Bill. 

Mr. Clements is one of the most lovable of men. His 
modesty and dislike of notoriety are two of his many strong 
qualities. He belongs to the class of men who have never 
sought office. In his case, it was the office who was on the 
outlook for the man. This was particularly so when he made 
his first race for Congress. When he was chosen for his 
present position it was not at his solicitation. He is, probably, 
more familiar with the methods prevailing in the operation 
of railways than many others who are not employed by rail- 
ways. The reader should not take up the notion, when men- 
tion is made of his retiring disposition, that Mr. Clements is 
not aggressive. He is always forceful and resourceful. He 
has come in contact, during the past ten or more years, with 
some of the ablest and brainiest railroad men in the United 
States. These gentlemen view the railroad question from 
their own point of view. It is, probably, natural that they 
should see but one side, and that is their side. Mr. Clements 
is supposed to see both sides, and to observe the two sides in a 
neutral way. In doing this, he sees many things in a different 
light from that of the railway managers. Some of the latter 

[109] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

class have said unkind things about the Interstate Com- 
merce Commission, because some of its members decHne 
to grant certain requests made by them. On more than one 
occasion, Mr. Clements has replied to some of these gentlemen, 
and the manner in which he did it was invariably polite but 
forceful. He is capable of making a splendid speech. He 
is quick at repartee, and can, figuratively speaking, take the 
''skin off" when he gets started. He knows his business as 
well as any other man in the country. He has never been 
of the impression that the railways own the Government. 
So long as the Government has made laws for what it believes 
is for a more intelligent control of the roads, he insists that 
these laws shall be observed. The reply of Mr. Clements 
to the attacks made upon the Commission by a prominent 
railway president, in the spring of 1910, clearly established the 
fact in the minds of those conversant with it that the attack- 
ing party had made a mistake, when Mr. Clements got through 
with him. 

Mr. Clements is not the man to provoke a quarrel, nor is he 
the man to run away from one. In private life, he is as agree- 
able a gentleman as one would wish to meet. He delights in 
having his friends about him. His home is a kind of Lib- 
erty Hall, to those with whom he is on terms of close friendship. 
In conversation he is entertaining. He possesses a fund of 
information that is delightful. He despises sham and hypocrisy 
as he does trickery upon the part of some railway managers, 
who spend the greater portion of their time in attempting to 
hoodwink the people, in the juggling of railway stocks, and 
committing other offenses against the public good. He is 
a stickler for the observance of the rights of other people, 
upon the same high plane as in his recognition of the sanctity of 
''vested rights," so loudly proclaimed by the railway people. 
The sacredness of the individual human rights he has empha- 
sized in many public discussions. It cannot be said of Mr. 
Clements that he has any particular hobby, unless it be that 

[no] 



JUDSON C. CLEMENTS 

his inclinations tend to make him a friend of the "under dog." 
When a man is found possessing these qualities, it is a pretty 
good sign that his heart and brains are in the right place. He 
prefers the quiet method of life. Mr. Clements is a man of 
the average stature. He never forgets his friends. In pass- 
ing through the street he takes pleasure in speaking to all 
those whom he may know. It makes no difference whether 
they be rich or poor, his treatment of them is the same. He 
finds more pleasure with books than he does with automobiles. 
He is not often seen in public places, and when he is, the 
chances are he has business there. He is conspicuous in 
nothing, except the fearless performance of his official duties. 
He believes the people are getting better than otherwise. He 
has faith in the integrity of mankind. He does not believe 
any one is guilty until the proof is forthcoming. He inclines 
to the opinion that the people are living too extravagantly, 
and are going at too swift a pace. He believes in being pro- 
gressive, but not to the extent of upsetting wholesome con- 
ditions. 



[hi] 



GEORGE B. CORTELYOU 




President of the Consolidated Gas Com- 
pany of the City of New York. The public 
career of Mr. Cortelyou serves as a forceful 
illustration of what a man may accomplish 
if given the opportunity. In 1893, Mr. 
Cortelyou, it is not believed, had the least 
thought that he would come so quickly into 
prominence, giving him a national reputation. 
His advent into public life was the result of an incident, which 
had no specific meaning at the time, but it gave the man the 
opportunity. When Mr. Cleveland became President the 
second time, he made inquiry of one of the Assistant Post- 
masters General, if he knew a young man anywhere in the 
department who was a good, reliable, quick stenographer. 
Mr. Cleveland was informed by the gentleman he was address- 
ing that he knew just such a man. The President asked that 
he be sent to the White House the following day, as he desired 
his services. This was Mr. Cortelyou's first entrance inside 
of the White House. When Mr. McKinley became President, 
Mr. Cortelyou was on duty, and in due time was made private 
secretary to the President, succeeding John Addison Porter, 
who had resigned in consequence of declining health. He 
retained the same position with President Roosevelt for about 
three years, then was made a Cabinet officer, Secretary of 
Commerce and Labor, being the first to hold this portfolio. 
In Mr. Roosevelt's second term he was Postmaster General, 
and, later, Secretary of the Treasury. It seldom falls to the 
lot of any man to fill more than two Cabinet positions. Mr. 
Cortelyou, however, in less than four years, filled three. 

In eariy life Mr. Cortelyou was a school-teacher in the 

[112] 



GEORGE B. CORTELYOU 

State of New York, where he was born. It was as an instruc- 
tor in the country districts that he first came in contact with the 
public. 

He is of a retiring disposition, almost as modest and unas- 
suming as a woman. He has never attempted to make public 
speeches. It is doubtful whether he could make one if he were 
to try. In this particular, he is certainly not marked with any 
forensic strength, but when it comes to guarding a secret, it 
is not believed he has any superior. When necessary, he 
is a sphinx in all the term implies. At one time, he became 
somewhat afflicted with a desire to elevate his political light- 
ning rod with the hope that the elements might strike in his 
vicinity when it came to placing in nomination a RepubHcan 
candidate for President. This shows, at least, that he is not 
without honorable ambition, yet his secretiveness seems 
stronger than his ambition, as he had been planning a cam- 
paign for the nomination for more than two years before 
he took the pubhc into his confidence. Mr. Cortelyou was 
President Roosevelt's choice for Chairman of the National 
Committee in 1904. It was not unnatural that Mr. Cor- 
telyou should have had an ambition to become President, 
having filled three Cabinet offices and been Chairman of the 
National Committee, which brought him in contact with the 
most influential men in the nation. It would have been out 
of the ordinary had he not sought further political honors. 
His sphinx-like nature again predominated in his seeking the 
Presidential nomination. He was secretly carrying on a 
dignified campaign. When it came to the ears of his Chief, 
President Roosevelt, he said it must stop, that he had said 
that William H. Taft should be the standard-bearer in 1908; 
whereupon Mr. Cortelyou quietly folded his tent, and aban- 
doned all further political hope. 

The trend of Mr. Cortelyou's mind, after all, is not so 
much in the political path as it is along the highroad of 
finance. He has a natural tendency to deal in large financial 

8 [113] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

undertakings. During his career, as the holder of three 
Cabinet positions, he came much in contact with the leading 
financiers of the country. One of these, John Pierpont 
Morgan, came to regard Mr. Cortelyou as a man of splendid 
ability, one to be at the head of a great corporation. It was 
through Mr. Morgan's influence that he was placed in the 
office of president of the gas company. :Mr. Cortelyou 
is not a man who cares much for any particular diver- 
sion. He is almost always serious. He seldom, if ever, 
laughs. He has no particular instinct, natural or culti- 
vated, for anything that is seemingly humorous. He has 
no time for joking. He views the more substantial side of life 
with a seriousness that is to be admired, creating the impres- 
sion that he is determined to make, not only a great success 
in life, but to accumulate a fortune. During the time he was 
a Cabinet officer, neither he nor his family were often seen in 
social circles. His position would, of course, have taken him 
to the front of the fashionable contingent, had he so desired. 
The butterflies of society have no attraction for him. He 
is a man who possesses intense love for his home and family. 
To see ^Ir. Cortelyou one would quickly associate him 
with affairs out of the ordinary in their scope. His ideas are 
large, and he likes to do big things. His advance from the 
stenographer's desk to that of Secretary of the Treasury, 
which was his last office, was rapid, but at no time had either 
his friends or enemies, if he had them, any reason to make 
complaint that he had expanded in his estimation of himself. 
He was the same George B. Cortelyou as Secretary of the 
Treasury, with his friends, that he was as a clerk in the Post- 
Office Department. While a Cabinet officer, his midday 
meals were mostly taken at a modest little lunch shop oppo- 
site the Treasury, where the highest price asked for any one 
article is five cents. This meal usually consisted of a glass 
of buttermilk, about two Maryland biscuits, and, sometimes, 
a piece of apple pie. Mr. Cortelyou has a fondness for the 

[114] 



GEORGE B. CORTELYOU 

cultivation of flowers. When Secretary to Presidents McKinley 
and Roosevelt, he made it a part of his official duty to observe 
daily that the necessary care and attention were given by 
the head florist to the proper care of the flowers in the 
White House conserv^ator}'. In his own home there are 
flowers in every room, all taken from his own little private 
flower garden. Another of Mr. Cortelyou's idiosyncrasies is 
his effort always to be on time. He usually carries two 
watches, and at his residence there is a time-piece in almost 
ever}- room. 

Mr. Cortelyou is a fine type of the physical man, as well as 
the mental. He has an unusually strong face. His hair 
originally was ver}- black, but began getting gray when he was 
in his twenties. He affects the pompadour style in combing 
it. He is dark of complexion, and might be taken for a 
member of the Latin race. His ancestors were French. In 
dress he is modest, but elegant. He has somewhat of a fond- 
ness for an extensive wardrobe. He may not have a suit of 
clothes for ever}' day in the week, but he will come very near 
it. His apparel is always fashionably made, and he seem- 
ingly cares little what it may cost, so it is good, and worth 
the price. 



[us] 



ALBERT B. CUMMINS 




■T HAS not been so many years since men 
first began to hear of a movement in the West 
called ''The Iowa Idea." In the newspaper 
reports of a system of government being 
sought after by a governor of that State, 
this executive's name and some of his achieve- 
ments in a fight against what he considered 
the encroachments of railroads on the public 
right came to be remembered by the people. Thus, when 
Albert B. Cummins was sworn in as a United States Senator, 
to succeed Senator William B. Allison, he needed little intro- 
duction, for he was the achieving governor of Iowa in the rail- 
road fights, and he was the instructor of "The Iowa Idea." 

And Cummins has taught the idea how to shoot. It is 
now the basis of what is known as the progressive movement 
in the Republican party. Since Cummins has been a mem- 
ber of the Senate, he has taken place as the expounder of the 
doctrines for which a little band of men in the upper house and 
a proportionately small band of men in the lower house of 
Congress have been fighting. 

Cummins began to figure in a broad national sense during 
the special session of the Sixty-first Congress, which framed 
the Payne-Aldrich tariff bill. He represented the sentiment 
of dissatisfaction among certain Republicans with particular 
schedules of the Dingley tariff, and he sought with skill and 
with strength to reduce these schedules, and to register the 
opinions of the progressives upon other schedules. Here and 
there he was successful, but he was fighting an overwhelming 
majority in his party. 

By the time the long session of that Congress met, Cummins 

[ii6] 



ALBERT B. CUMMINS 

was ready with object lessons. With him in the Senate were 
leagued Dolliver, his colleague; Bristow, of Kansas; Clapp, of 
Minnesota; La Follette, of Wisconsin; Beveridge, of Indiana, 
and Borah, of Idaho. In the House a score or more men were 
making the same fight. It seemed as if by some natural group- 
ing the Republican Senators making the fight of the progres- 
sives each had his talent with which to force the fighting. 
Dolliver was the bard; Beveridge, the cavalry; Borah, the 
logician; Clapp, the heavy artiller}- Bristow, the skirmisher; 
La Follette, the Danton. But Cummins was the general 
in chief, the Napoleon, the Hannibal of the movement. He 
planned the battles. He, in discussing the section, say, of the 
railroad bill which the progressives proposed to change, 
would lay down a general theory upon which the progres- 
sives would proceed. Suave, skillful, faultless in designing, 
in exposition faultless; never bitter, never once losing con- 
trol; stocked with merciless information that crushed all 
attempts to befog the issues, Cummins worked out a pattern 
of constructive statesmanship that amazed the close watchers 
of governmental affairs in Washington. They realized that 
here was a Senator with the abilities for leadership possessed 
by Aldrich himself; \nth quahties of statesmanship that 
Sahsbur>' might have envied. And his familiarity with the 
topics he discussed, his ready mastery of data, and his smooth 
and masterly manners of presentation made Cummins probably 
one of the three really great figures of twentieth-century Con- 
gressional record. Many were ready to say that his quali- 
ties suggested him for the office of President, but his justi- 
fication of or desire for the reahty of that suggestion is a 
matter for the future to determine. 

There is much in the personal appearance of Cummins 
to lend him grace as a public character. He is something 
above the average height, with kindling eyes, in which cour- 
tesy and gentiHty vie with intelligence for dominance. His 
face is finely featured ; his head is shapely, and it bears enough 

[117] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

hair to lend it beauty. His frame is spare but strong, his 
bearing easy and graceful. 

He was three times governor of Iowa, and in that State he 
learned the business of battle against public service corpora- 
tions. When he was ready — and he was the first one — to 
make progressive Republicanism a national issue, he opposed 
Senator Allison for election to the Senate. But Allison had 
served the people of Iowa for many years, and his position in 
the Senate was in the front rank, his character unassailable, 
his nature lovable. He was very old, and the people of Iowa 
elected to give him his wish, and permit him to serve out his 
days in the Senate. Allison died before his term was out, and 
the only man thought of to succeed him was Cummins. He 
took his seat with the mighty Dolliver, his colleague, and what 
Cummins has accompHshed, with the aid of the little group 
of Senators enumerated, is a compelling chapter in parliamen- 
tary history. 

Cummins believes in the future of the progressives. He 
considers that they will control the next and the future national 
conventions of the Republican party. This means, of course, 
that a reduced tariff and regulation of railroads platform 
will be drafted at the next national convention, and a candi- 
date chosen in sympathy with those issues. 

What will come of the fight of Cummins, and what will 
be the fate of his prophecies, are questions which events will 
determine. 



[ii8] 



GLENN H. CURTIS 




NE OF the ''wind wagoners" of the world. 
By 'Svind wagoner" is meant one of those 
high-minded gentlemen who love to soar 
among the clouds in a flying machine. Mr. 
Curtiss is looked upon as the world's premier 
aviator. He is the star performer, occupy- 
ing the real center of the air stage. There 
is no doubt that most men could do what 
Mr. Curtiss has done, and is doing, if they had the nerve. 
That is where Mr. Curtiss has been able to triumph over 
many of his fellow-men. He is not afraid, and that means a 
great deal. Mr. Curtiss is new, in a sense, to the world at 
large. He has done some things that no other men have done. 
He made the journey from Albany to Governor's Island, New 
York City, a distance of about one hundred and fifty miles, 
in his flying machine, which, at the time, was one of the long- 
est distances ever made by any aviator in America. The 
only time this distance had been surpassed, previous to his 
flight, was by a Frenchman, in passing from London to Man- 
chester, England, a distance of about one hundred and eighty 
miles. If Mr. Curtiss never does anything more in the way 
of breaking records as a 'Svind wagoner," his trip from 
Albany to New York stands as the greatest achievement 
in the science of aviation ever accomplished in the United 
States. Mr. Curtiss does not claim to be the real head and 
front of the aviation business, but he does believe he is entitled 
to his share of credit for being one of the most daring. He 
concedes to the Wright brothers their place in the history of 
the new method of travel, but his achievements have been 
made upon lines more sensational and have attracted univer- 
sal attention throughout the United States and Europe. Mr. 
Curtiss does not wish the impression to go abroad that he 

[119] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

is different from other men. As a boy, he was just the same 
as other boys. He had the usual attack every year of "spring 
fever," which, in the parlance of country folks, means laziness. 
He preferred tinkering about the barn, woodshed, and car- 
riage house, with such carpentering and blacksmithing tools 
as one might expect to find in any country home. 

Mr. Curtiss, when about twenty years old, was an expert 
bicycle rider. As the bicycle gradually disappeared, the 
motor cycle took its place. Curtiss became a professional 
motor-cycle rider. He was often a contestant in races, 
usually winning most of the prizes. From this, it is safe 
to believe that he was a reckless kind of a fellow in not 
shrinking from taking desperate chances with his life. He 
began experimenting in dirigible balloons. The reputation 
made by Santos-Dumont as a balloonist, in France, attracted 
the attention of Curtiss. This was before the present up- 
to-date flying machines, aeroplanes, came into use. After 
the Wright brothers had won their honors in America and 
Europe, Mr. Curtiss believed himself sufficiently experienced 
to take a hand in aerial navigation. He has been in the lead, 
wherever he has appeared, whether at Rheims, France; 
Brescia, Italy; Los Angeles, New York, or elsewhere. He is 
the one man engaged in air flights who has "done unusual 
things," and to the complete satisfaction of all his fellow- 
countrymen. He believes the aeroplane will find its uses 
in time, as a method of getting about, but, so far, he has not 
expressed himself on the subject as to its possible real com- 
mercial value. He thinks it may have its uses in a way, but 
many improvements have yet to be made before the public will 
take to it seriously. He has been given rewards aggregating, 
probably, sixty thousand dollars during the past two years. 
Mr. Curtiss is enterprising to a degree. He is one of the 
kind of men who are seldom idle. If not up in the air cutting 
the wind, he is down on the ground, building some new machin- 
ery, or improving the old. He is a nervous, quick-moving 

[120] 



GLENN H. CURTISS 

man, probably between thirty and thirty-five years of age 
Is rather tall and sHm. His hair is brown and heavy. He 
wears a mustache and an imperial, the latter probably more 
for the purpose of hiding a scar on his chin, the result of a 
wound he received in some of his daring exploits. 

Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, 
may, in a measure, be responsible for much knowledge Mr! 
Curtiss has acquired as a ''wind wagoner." Mr. Bell experi- 
mented for some years on a new kind of flying machine, at 
his summer home, at Baddeck, Nova Scotia. For some 
good reason, he moved his shop from Baddeck to Hammonds- 
port, New York, which chanced to be the home of Mr. Cur- 
tiss. The initial "H" in Mr. Curtiss' name stands for 
Hammondsport. Being named for the town, the towns- 
people take local pride in regarding him as one of their lead- 
ing citizens. Mr. Curtiss was an everyday visitor at the shop 
of Alexander Graham Bell. It was here he may have received 
many new ideas. At any rate, after informing himself as to 
what was going on in the Bell laborator)^ Mr. Curtiss took 
on more progress in the development of the flying machine. 
It is not understood that he got any ideas from Mr. Bell in 
other than an honorable way. Mr. Bell found Curtiss useful 
about his laboratory. The two men aided each other in mak- 
ing experiments and improvements on the machinery. Mr. 
Curtiss was a poor boy, without money. Mr. Bell was a man 
advanced in years, with plenty of money. Thus it can be 
seen how the two may have worked in harmony, and no doubt 
they did. Mr. Curtiss is more at ease when dressed in his 
flying costume. He looks upon a sweater as a more useful 
article of wearing apparel than a "boiled" shirt. The people 
of his town swear by him. He is popular with everybody. 
I\Ir. Curtiss was fortunate in selecting a lovable giri for a 
wife. ^ She is responsible for many of his achievements, in 
inspiring him to surpass all competitors, if possible. She has 
confidence in his judgment. 

[I2l] 




JOHN DALZELL 

Representative in congress from the 

thirtieth district of Pennsylvania. Mr. Dal- 
zell has, for the past fifteen years, exercised 
much authority in directing legislation coming 
before the House of Representatives. He 
WSL.S elected to the Fiftieth Congress in 1886, 
has served continuously from that time to the 
present, now being a candidate for re-election. 
Mr. Dalzell was born in the city of New York, in the middle 
forties, and about two years after his birth his parents moved 
to Pittsburg, which has since been his home. He has long 
since taken rank as one of the leading lawyers of Western 
Pennsylvania, having devoted himself mostly to the practice 
of corporation law. He has been known, while a member of 
Congress, as a loyal friend to the industrial world, particularly 
the multiplied industries of Pittsburg and surrounding country. 
Mr. Dalzell is an extreme partisan; so much so, in fact, that 
his principal associates are usually members of the Repub- 
lican party. Sometimes, he is inclined to let politics interfere 
with his personal relations, though there have been some few 
Democrats in Congress with whom he has been on terms of 
close personal friendship. He is not a man who is efifusive. 
He is rather cold. He is a student, and a good thinker. He 
is not one who finds much conviviality in life. He is more 
inclined to repel good fellowship than to encourage it. Dur- 
ing his long service as a member of the Committee on Rules, 
he has been a faithful friend and follower of Speaker Cannon ; 
in fact, he occupied a similar position in the directing of 
legislation under Speakers Reed and Henderson. Mr. Dal- 
zell is so loyal a Republican that he never loses an oppor- 

[122] 



JOHN DALZELL 

tunity to make a point for his own party against the Demo- 
crats. He is a good, hard fighter, and carries his political 
antagonisms to the jumping-off place, whether it be victory 
or defeat. No one can consistently accuse Mr. Dalzell of 
taking undue advantage of his political opponents by tres- 
passing upon parliamentary rules. He is a man who lives 
much to himself. He does not have many intimate com- 
panions. His most constant companion has been Sereno E. 
Payne, Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, of 
which Mr. Dalzell is also a member. He is not, however, 
without many good friends, both in Congress and among his 
constituency at home. He is popularly supposed to be more 
in harmony with the interests of large corporations than he is 
with those of the plain people. At least, his official acts in 
Congress might lead one to believe that such is the case. But 
with all that, he has ever been mindful of the fact that to 
retain his political position, he has got to be on terms of 
friendship with the laboring people, as they make up the 
larger contingent of voters who have returned him to Con- 
gress for so many times. 

On the question of tariff, Mr. Dalzell is a stand-patter 
from the headwaters. He is firm in his conviction that a 
high protective tariff has been the cause of the great era of 
prosperity which has prevailed over the country since the 
election of President McKinley. He has never been in favor 
of reducing the tariff on anything, but more inclined to the 
idea of advancing the rates on all products. When he first 
became a member of Congress, he announced his tariff con- 
victions on the Mills bill, which was then pending, and which 
he opposed with all the power at his command. He has 
never deviated an iota from his first utterances on this sub- 
ject. He has been a power in his party, and were he a more 
entertaining speaker, he would probably have greater influ- 
ence in the House of Representatives. His speeches, how- 
ever, all read well, but he is not gifted with oratory in any 

[123] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

way. He does not speak often, but when he does, he says 
something. He is oftentimes more or less irritable. He 
is not unfamiliar with the old saying that you can "catch 
more flies with molasses than you can with vinegar." He 
knows the truth of this as well as any one else, but he prefers 
using the vinegar. This indicates his strong individuality. 
He doesn't seem to care a rap for the opinions of others. He 
does his own thinking and, from his point of reasoning, is 
justified in every political attitude he has assumed. 

Mr. Dalzell, it would seem, is not only self-reliant in politics, 
but he is the same in his relationship with the public. He 
has never aspired to achieve personal popularity. He does not 
seem to care for it. He knows he is not personally popular. 
This does not, however, disturb him at all. That he is, and 
has been, a useful member of Congress in the interests of the 
Republican party is conceded by his most formidable political 
foes. If he should remain in Congress much longer, and the 
Republicans retain power over the House, he may possibly be- 
come a candidate for the Speakership, and his election would be 
by no means improbable. He has few interests outside of his 
profession and political position. He cares little, if at all, for 
amusements. He is seldom seen in public, unless it be at 
political gatherings. He is a firm believer in the beneficial 
effects of walking. He seldom rides, except when the weather 
is inclement. He is an inveterate reader of the best literature 
of the day. There are few men in Congress, or out of it, better 
informed. He is probably five feet eight inches in height, 
and weighs somewhere near one hundred and sixty pounds. 
He has a habit of carrying his head much to one side, as though 
he might have some infirmity affecting the side muscles of his 
neck. In the matter of personal attire, Mr. Dalzell meets 
every requirement. He is a frequent patron of the draper, 
and keeps in touch with the latest prevailing fashions. He has 
a fondness for wearing silk hats. He comes up to the full 
measure of a useful and influential citizen. 

[124] 




CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW 

'hAUNCEY M. DEPEW was once ap- 
proached by a venerable colleague in the 
United States Senate, who said: 
''Depew, tell me, please, what it is that 
* keeps you so young?" 

Without a moment's hesitation, Depew 
gave the magic formula which he says is 
responsible for retaining the bloom on his 
cheek, the sparkle in his eye, and the spring in his step in spite 
of an accumulation of nearly four score of years. He said : 

"Keeping abreast of the times; or, better still, just a'httle 
in advance; maintaining a cheerful view of life, and refusing 
to worry." 

That's a philosophy of life which young America can well 
afford to adopt. It may not lead every young man along the 
paths of fame followed by Depew, but if faithfully adhered to, 
it is calculated to give him a chance to make his mark. 

Of course, there were some things other than keeping his 
eyes open and a stiff upper lip that helped Depew along. 
His cheerful view of life was not solely responsible for making 
him one of the most prominent railroad men the country has 
ever seen; an orator with a world-wide reputation; a serious 
contender for the nomination of President of the United States, 
and a statesman of renown. There were qualities not included 
in the Depew formula for maintaining perpetual youth that 
contributed to put him in the gallery of famous Americans. 

Depew discovered the value of keeping abreast of the 
times, and in fact, just a little ahead of them, at a compara- 
tively early age. This knowledge saved him from the career 
of a diplomat, and instead made him first a railroad attorney 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

and then a railroad president. It was in 1864. Abraham 
Lincoln had appointed him United States Minister to Japan. 
This was a big honor, because Depew was something of a 
youngster, and his fame was local. He had been a member 
of the New York Assembly, and secretary of state for New 
York. He thought well of the mission to Japan, and after 
the nomination had been confirmed by the Senate, he de- 
cided to take it. At that time an offer was made to him 
to become the attorney for the New York and Harlem 
Railroad Company. Depew debated the two openings. 
Would it be the Government foreign service, with a chance 
to make a name for himself as an American diplomatist, 
or the more prosaic, but more profitable, calling of railroad 
counselor ? 

"I think I'll stick to my profession," decided Depew; and 
he refused the foreign appointment. The wisdom of his 
choice was made apparent when he quickly thereafter became 
general counsel for the New York Central and built up the 
great Vanderbilt system of roads, eventually becoming the 
head of it. 

Depew, by the way, had a second escape from a diplo- 
matic career, but this time the slip-up was not his fault. 
This incident concerned the offer of the Ambassadorship to 
Great Britain by President McKinley. Many persons will re- 
call that formal announcement was made that McKinley was 
to give this mission to Depew. The newspapers commented 
favorably about it, but the appointment was never made. 
McKinley refused to explain why he did not appoint Depew, 
and for a year the matter was a mystery to every one. 
Finally, Vice-President Hobart found out what the trouble 
was, and told Depew. The explanation is here printed for 
the first time. 

It seems that after Depew had told President McKinley 
he would accept the appointment, the New Yorker made a 
speech at a dinner where, among the other guests, were the 

[126] 



CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW 

Vice-President and Mrs. Hobart. There was also present 
an active candidate for a first-class foreign mission under 
McKinley, a New York man. This man realized that as 
General Horace Porter was to go to France, and Andrew D. 
White to Berlin, and Depew to England, another diplomatic 
plum could not be expected for New York. At this dinner 
Depew said something complimentar}' to Vice-President 
Hobart and Mrs. Hobart. The next day President McKinley 
was told that Depew, in a speech at a large dinner party, 
had expressed regret that, owing to the infirmities of Mrs. 
McKinley, there would be no ''White House mistress" for 
the next four years. Naturally, President McKinley was 
indignant, so much so that he failed to mention the incident 
to Depew, and also forgot to make the appointment to Great 
Britain. As soon as Hobart related these facts to Depew, the 
latter went at once to the White House to explain that he had 
never made the comments credited to him. 

"I deeply regret," he said to the President, "that you did 
not inform me of this at the time, not that I might have got 
the mission to England, but that I might have convinced 
you that I am neither a blackguard nor a fool." 

There were mutual apologies and expressions of regret, 
and then McKinley offered to appoint Depew as ambassador 
to Germany; but Depew declined. 

WTien King Edward died, every wideawake city editor of 
the big newspapers of the country wired his correspondents 
to get reminiscences of the dead monarch from Depew. The 
latter was better acquainted with King Edward than prob- 
ably any other American. He filled columns with personal 
stories, experiences with and anecdotes of Edward while the 
latter was Prince of Wales, and, later, King. 

Depew is one of the best mixers in the business, and, without 
much doubt, has a wider circle of friends among the nobility 
of Europe than any living American. His pleasant person- 
ality, keen mind, and the charm of his after-dinner talks have 

[127] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

made him a much-sought-after guest in the most exclusive 
castles and private homes in Europe. 

For thirty years or more, Depew has made it a practice to 
spend part of the summer in Europe. He met Edward, the 
Prince of Wales, and the two became fast friends. The heir to 
the British throne, in commenting on American humor, once 
remarked that he had been greatly disappointed in the quality 
of Mark Twain's stories, but that he had been dehghted with 
Depew's after-dinner speeches. 

When Gladstone was Prime Minister, Depew dined along 
with him many times. Depew was frequently a guest at the 
country house of Lord Rosebery, while the latter was Prime 
Minister, and at these parties he met and became well acquaint- 
ed with many of the leaders in British politics. Being a lawyer 
of some renown, Depew was often a guest at the formal judicial 
dinners of the British lawyers and judges, and in this way 
extended his circle of acquaintances among these classes. 
On festive occasions, he made speeches which went well. 

Depew thus explains the difference between formal Eng- 
lish dinners and similar functions elsewhere. 

"A London dinner," he said, "differs from dinners every- 
where else in the world. It always has an object aside from 
the social element, which is to entertain some one distin- 
guished in one way or another. I have never attended a 
dinner in London without meeting a notable statesman, a 
man of letters, a great traveler, a general, an explorer, or a 
star of the dramatic or lyric stage. After dining out every 
night during a four weeks' season in London, as I have for 
thirty years, it is natural that I should have accumulated 
a wealth of recollections of a kind that you can get nowhere 
else except at the capital of the world." 

Senator Depew owes his restoration to health, following 
his physical breakdown in 1905, to his willingness to take 
advantage of the most advanced medical treatment — simply 
another case of keeping abreast of the times. He was under 

[128] 



CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW 

the care of a famous Berlin specialist, at one of the German 
watering-places. The high-priced specialist had done little 
or nothing for his patient, except to render enormous bills. 
One day the famous specialist was called away, and his assist- 
ant, a youngster, took charge of the Depew case. The sub- 
stitute decided that what the patient needed was a shock. 
He ordered an automobile ride, and furnished the chauffeur. 
"It was a frightful experience," said Depew afterward. 
*'I thought the man was crazy, and bent on killing us both. 
He dashed along those mountain roads at a terrifying pace, 
missed head-on collisions and toppling over precipices by hair 
breadths, and kept me bouncing from one side of the car to 
the other. For an hour I was in a cold sweat. But that night 
I slept peacefully for the first time in seven months. I soon 
got well." 

Besides keeping abreast of the times, Depew has another 
hobby. It is to make speeches for the Republican party. 
This is a fixed habit with him, like taking a cheerful view of life. 
He has canvassed New York State and a good part of the 
rest of the country every year since 1872, which is a record 
that few public men can equal. 

In spite of his exceptionally long public career, Depew lives 
in the present and not in the past. He has a phenomenal 
ability to ''size up" in short order any situation, whether 
political, financial, or industrial. An experienced Washington 
correspondent once told the Senator that, of all the public 
men he had met, Depew had developed to the highest point 
that faculty of summarizing and bringing to his finger tips 
all the essential features of a general situation. 

''That's one of the finest compliments I ever received," 
returned Depew. 



[129] 




GEORGE DEWEY 

^DMIRAL of the United States Navy. The 
fourth man in the history of the Government 
to hold this position. Admiral Dewey is a 
native of Vermont. Ten years ago, there 
was not a man in the United States more 
talked about than he. His name and fame 
were blazoned throughout the world as the 
hero of Manila Bay. His record in the 
Navy is an honorable one. His achievement, while deserv- 
ing, was probably more the result of good fortune than other- 
wise. Had he not been sent as commander of the Asiatic 
Squadron at the time he was, he would not have had the 
opportunity of displaying his prowess as a naval fighter. 
When war was declared between the United States and 
Spain, Commodore Dewey, which was then his rank, with 
his small fleet, was in Chinese waters. China being a neutral 
power, he was forced to take to sea, but not until instruc- 
tions had been sent him from Washington that war had 
been declared, ordering him to find the enemy and destroy 
him. He sailed the shortest route for the Philippine Islands. 
What he did there is too well known to necessitate repetition. 
On his return to his native country, after circumnavigating 
the globe, he was showered with the plaudits of his country- 
men, such as no American had ever received up to that time, 
or has received since. So great was the appreciation of his 
countrymen that, by popular subscription, he was presented 
with a handsome home. Congress bestowed upon him the 
title of Admiral for life. That body likewise presented him 
with one of the handsomest swords money could buy. 

Admiral Dewey typifies a hero who has modesty. He 

[130] 



GEORGE DEWEY 

has never been a man who publicly thrust his personality 
forward. In the battle of Manila Bay, which, after all, was 
a bloodless combat, the people of the United States, not 
Dewey, emphasized its importance. This may have been 
because of the great distance between this country and the 
scene of action. The enemy was not in condition to present 
formidable opposition, thereby rendering it comparatively 
easy for Commodore Dewey to take possession of Manila. 
This event vsill, in time, no doubt, have its proper place in 
history, but no sane historian will think of according to it 
the strategic importance that was unwisely given it by the 
people at large. Admiral Dewey's deportment has ever been 
commendable as a naval officer. It is doubtful whether there 
is any man in the naval service of the United States Govern- 
ment more modest, and more unassuming than Admiral 
Dewey. In manners he is as simple as a child, yet always 
possessing the dignity commensurate with his official posi- 
tion. His home Hfe is delightful. He likes to have his friends 
about him, and he is a man who has a host of warm, sincere 
friends. He is not a man who makes enemies, notwithstand- 
ing the professional rivalr)' prevailing in the Navy Depart- 
ment. As an officer, and as a man, he is noted for attending 
strictly to his own business. He never failed in executing 
any official order that was given him. He dislikes being 
made conspicuous, notwithstanding his rank. His official 
station often necessitates his appearing at public functions, 
wearing the insignia of the highest rank in the Navy. This 
he shrinks from, but social conventionahties give him no 
alternative. 

It is an everjday occurrence to see Admiral Dewey passing 
from his residence to and from his office. He is seldom 
seen wearing the same suit of clothes more than once a week. 
His hats always match his other apparel. He seems to be 
particular about having his clothes made just so. If he has 
a fondness for any particular color, it is gray. He appears 

[ 131 1 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

to prefer the alpine hat to the derby. It is only upon rare 
occasions he is seen wearing a frock-coat. He prefers the 
business sack-coat. He is never without a light walking- 
stick, which he handles with grace, sometimes "snipping" 
the blades of grass with it in the parking as he passes along. 
He has a merry greeting for all his friends, and is not averse 
to a few minutes' chat with an agreeable acquaintance along 
the street. He is graceful in movement, and polite to every- 
body. His hair is as white as snow, and is matched by his 
mustache. He spends most of his time in Washington, 
probably two months out of the year at some of the more 
fashionable ocean or mountain resorts. The office of Ad- 
miral carries with it comparatively Httle work, therefore he is 
not embarrassed by an accumulation of business. This 
gives him more time to himself, much of which he spends 
in the library in his residence in K Street. He is probably 
better informed upon general topics than is any other man 
in the Navy. He is an inveterate reader of good literature. 
He has been a constant student of the growth and progress 
of all the navies in the world. He can talk for hours upon 
this subject, and always entertainingly. While reserved and 
modest, he is, to those who know him intimately, "an all- 
around good fellow." 



[132] 




CHARLES DICK 

^HE MILITARY commander would be help- 
less without lieutenants to execute his con- 
ceptions, and it is likewise true that the politi- 
cal leader would not gain a victory at the polls 
unless well serv^ed. The Republican party 
has produced many great leaders— statesmen 
like Lincoln, Morton, Conkling, Blaine, Ben 
Harrison, and others— but, in 1896, the 
leader of the Republican party was a business man, a 
man of affairs, a man of great force, of tremendous energy, 
of strong mind, of combative nature, with a will of iron, with 
a judgment as clear as crystal, and millions at his command. 
He was a new man, a stranger to his country outside his own 
State, but ere the winter solstice of 1896, Mark Hanna was the 
first personality in American politics. 

Of course, Hanna had lieutenants, and it was in 1896 that 
the general public first heard of Charles Dick. Ohio had 
known him for several years. As a general proposition, 
public men are divided into two classes— those who say things 
and those who do things. Rare as the phoenix is the 
marvel who combines the thinker, the orator, and the exec- 
utive. Senator Dick is a man of deeds. If he does not 
spUt the ears of the groundhngs, and make Olympian Jove, 
who plays with thunderbolts, tired of noise, he will come 
pretty near telling you how many States his party will carr}^ 
each November, and he can always tell you the condition of 
the poHtical pulse of the State of Ohio. A political party 
would go all to pieces without such men. As an organizer 
he is admirable, and when he gets through with a job of that 

[133] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

sort, it is finished. He has been connected with the State 
organization for many years, and has conducted the party 
to many a victory. He was in command in 1894, when Ohio 
gave a majority that was the greatest victory the Republicans 
ever gained in the State. Though, in some respects, it was 
excelled in 1903, when Dick was again in command. 

And during his entire political life, Mark Hanna found 
in Charles Dick his greatest and most successful aid. Upon 
his return from Cuba, where he commanded an Ohio regi- 
ment in the Spanish War, Dick found a vacancy in Congress, 
caused by the death of Stephen A. Northway, Representative 
from the former Nineteenth District, one of the most famous 
constituencies of the American electorate — the old Whittlesey 
district, the old Giddings district, the old Garfield district, the 
old Abner Taylor district, the cream of the "Western Reserve," 
where Democrats do not thrive. 

Dick was chosen to the succession. Hanna was now a 
Senator, and the acknowledged leader of the party, and he 
played the game of politics with a dash and a verve never 
before seen or heard of in our land. He needed Dick in 
Congress, and Dick went to Congress, where he was noted for 
his strong common sense and clear insight. He was a practical 
legislator, and the author of the present militia system of the 
United States. Dick was yet as much the chief lieutenant of 
Hanna as he had been in 1896, when he was in charge of the 
Western headquarters of his party, in Chicago, and carried 
the West overwhelmingly for McKinley. 

When Hanna died, all eyes turned to Dick for the suc- 
cession. He was chosen for both the unexpired term and the 
new one, and became the nominee of his party for re-election. 
There is faction in both parties in Ohio, and that, too, despite 
the fact that Ohio has assumed the first place as a political 
State. Every Republican President, save Lincoln and Roose- 
velt, was bom in Ohio, and Hayes, Garfield, McKinley and 
Taft resided in Ohio when elected. 

[134] 



CHARLES DICK 

The organization, perfect and complete, is all that is needed 
to hold Ohio in the Repubhcan line. Dick can supply it. 
He is a wonder in that sort of work. He is active, agile, alert, 
cool, and self-confident. In person he is rather striking, with 
iron-gray hair, frank countenance, clear blue, wide-open eyes 
that never flinch, and inspire confidenc 



[135] 




STEPHEN B. ELKINS 

teE LATE Han^ey Watterson, a fine old 
character, full of reminiscences of men, 
things, and events; a protege of General 
Jackson and a friend and colleague of James 
K. Polk; a Tennesseean born and reared, 
used to relate an anecdote like this: When 
the administration of Mr. Pierce was about 
six weeks old, I\Ir. Watterson was one morn- 
ing just about to enter the White House, when he met Andrew 
Johnson emerging from that mansion. The future President 
was in a towering rage, and his face like a storm cloud. Ad- 
dressing Mr. Watterson, his voice vibrating with passion, 

he exclaimed: "There are too many great men in 

this country that ain't fit for nothing." Johnson was ever 
more emphatic than grammatical. Perhaps some request he 
had made had been refused by Marcy or Jeff Davis, by Guthrie 
or Caleb Gushing. 

It cannot be said that Stephen B. Elkins ''ain't fit for 
nothing," as Johnson put it. He has grappled with the 
world; he has thrown fortune. 

As a practical statesman the West Virginia Senator has 
few equals and no superior in the American Congress. The 
author is a Democrat, and does not believe in many of his 
preachments; but he is willing to concede that when it comes 
to "doing things," Elkins is a match for Aldrich, or Cannon, 
or any of the rest of them. He is a man of affairs. His 
mind is as practical as it is ample. By the foolish refusal 
of Congress to enact the "Pooling" bill, railroad rebate 
was inevitable. Congress said the railroads should compete. 
Rebate was the very soul of competition; but a big row was 

[136] 



STEPHEN B. ELKINS 

raised over that, and Elkins came forth with his anti-rebate 
bill, that promised to compose the quarrel for good and all, 
and that is what it would have accomplished if the law offi- 
cers had enforced it. It is not believed that any man of the 
present has a clearer conception of the railroad problem than 
Elkins, and there is great faith in the railroad measure he 
piloted through the first regular session of the Sixty-first 
Congress. While he can say things, he is a hand-and-a-half 
to do things. 

Stephen Benton Elkins is sixty-one years of age, and his 
has been a varied and an adventurous career. Ohio-born, 
the son of a farmer, in his early youth the family went to 
Missouri on a State-building expedition, though they were 
unconscious of that mission, and were in search of a better 
home. Young Elkins got an education, but his was a 
mind that would have gone far without an education. He 
was better taught in the schools than Jackson, or Lincoln, or 
Johnson, but, in fact, to succeed, all Elkins required was to 
be able to read and write, and be master of the arithmetic 
up to and inclusive of the rule telling how to calculate the 
interest on a cash note. He was a soldier, and to be a soldier 
in Missouri, in the war of 1861-1865, was a very hazardous 
business, though safer than to be a citizen. It is narrated 
that he was at one time the captive of men who were wont 
to shoot prisoners, and escaped as by fire. 

He was ever of robust health, of excellent digestion, of 
equable temper, of placable disposition. His good humor 
is perennial, and his laughter infectious. Children love him. 
He succeeded in New Mexico as he would have succeeded 
in Tibet. He gained position at the bar, and was in exten- 
sive and lucrative practice. He was a banker, and acquired 
ducats and lands. He was sent to represent the Territory 
as a Delegate in Congress, and he nearly brought New 
Alexico into the Union as a sovereign State. That story about 
his defeat in that endeavor because he congratulated Julius 

[137] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

Caesar Burrows for a bloody-shirt speech is probably a 
romance. 

Elkins was in Congress four years, a Delegate from New 
Mexico. It was in Washington that he met an excellent 
and a charming woman, and married her. She was the 
daughter of another man fit for something, Henry G. Davis, 
a Senator from West Virginia. Senator Davis was a magnate 
of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, a capitalist, and a pioneer 
in the development of the boundless natural resources of 
West Virginia. He was a Democrat, and is chiefly remem- 
bered as a Senator for two speeches he deHvered — and remark- 
able productions they were— against the bookkeeping of the 
Treasury Department. There were folk who thought the 
people would make money by having him as President of the 
United States. 

After the war of 1 861-1865, Elkins went from Missouri 
to New Mexico, where he was a member of the Territorial 
Legislative Assembly, district attorney and attorney general, 
from which latter position he was made United States District 
Attorney, and in 1872 he was returned as the Territorial 
Delegate to the Forty-third Congress. James G. Blaine was 
the Speaker of that body, and then it was, in 1873-18 75, that 
was formed the intimacy between the man of magnetism from 
Maine and the man of affairs from New Mexico. There is 
little doubt that the most poignant regret of Stephen B. 
Elkins' life is the fact that he did not quite succeed in making 
Blaine President. Subsequently he did nominate, and elect 
to that great place Ben Harrison, of Indiana. Had Elkins 
been for Gresham, or Allison, or even Sherman, the nomina- 
tion of 1888 would have gone to his choice. 

Elkins was one of President Harrison's Cabinet — Secre- 
tary of War. It speaks well for the man that at the time of 
that unfortunate and mysterious misunderstanding between 
the President and his Secretary of State, Elkins retained the 
friendship of Blaine, and did not forfeit the confidence cf 

[138] 



STEPHEN B. ELKINS 

Harrison. He did it, too, without the criticism of a vigilant 
press, some members of which delight in gossiping, and some 
of which revel in scandal. 

While a successful law^^r, deeply grounded in the prin- 
ciples and the philosophies of that noble profession, and 
while a strong debater in the Senate, Stephen B. Elkins' place 
is in the Council rather than in the Forum. His common 
sense is inexhaustible, his good humor perennial, his patience 
boundless. He never driv^es; he convinces, if possible; he per- 
suades if all other expedients fail. If OUie James, of Ken- 
tucky, is the most popular man in the House of Representatives, 
Steve Elkins is the most popular man in the Senate. He has 
a sense of humor, and is ever conciliator)-. His industry is 
man^lous, and his robust physical constitution, combined 
with the patience of the spider and the geniality of the good 
fellow, makes him a power in committee council. There is 
not a place in the entire Federal establishment that Stephen 
B. Elkins could not fill with credit to himself and profit to the 
State, from President down to assistant secretar}^ of any 
department. To know him is to love him and to esteem him. 
He is a great man; and the greater, perhaps, because he would 
rather do one hundred kindnesses than to perpetrate a single 
injur)'. I love to hear Steve Elkins talk, but I would rather 
hear him laugh. He is a remarkable man. 



[139] 




CHARLES W. FAIRBANKS 

fOW A MAN of the refined sensibilities, the 
charming urbanity, the suave deportment, 
the artless piety, the unfeigned modesty of 
Charles Warren Fairbanks became the first 
poHtical personality of Indiana is a mystery. 
The twenty-sixth Vice-President is, instinct- 
ively, a gentleman, and shrinks from strife 
and turbulence, and yet he attained the first 
place in public life in a State where politics has been war ever 
since the birth of the Republican party, more than half a 
century ago. As a rule, the stump in Indiana has been a 
theater of vehement altercation, fierce invective, and furious 
tumult, and Fairbanks, the most placid, amiable, and refined 
of men, went through fierce political campaigns without giv- 
ing offense to, or receiving affront from, his political adver- 
saries. When Morton clashed with Hendricks, or Voorhees 
with Harrison, flint and steel came in contact. Turpie was 
the greatest master of classic invective, and Julian could be 
stormy, violent, and impetuous. Indiana was a pivotal State, 
and from time whereof the memory of man scarce runneth to 
the contrary, the vote of Indiana in the Electoral College has 
been cast for the successful ticket, if, as all Democrats claim, 
Tilden was really elected in 1876. Mr. Fairbanks is of strict 
Puritan stock, a direct lineal descendant of one of Cromwell's 
"Ironsides." Ohio-born, he is of Massachusetts parentage, 
and his career, as youth and man, is one of the magnificent 
triumphs of American citizenship. A devout communicant 
of the Methodist Church, he received a classical education at 
Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, chose the law for a pro- 
fession, and moved to, and opened an office at, Indianapolis. 

[140] 



CHARLES W. FAIRBANKS 

At this time he was as lean as a fence rail, and nearly as long. 
His health was not robust, and it was not a very inviting 
field as it appeared to him; but he was resolute. The car- 
dinal virtues— industry, frugality, self-denial, and self-reliance 
—were his, and now he practiced all of them. He had no 
genius, except the genius of ceaseless labor and the taking of 
infinite pains. He was not a Blaine or an Ingersoll, to capti- 
vate and to dazzle. His was not a brilliant intellect to depend 
on the inspiration of the moment rather than on previous 
study. But he was a man of ability and fine mind. Every 
day he learned a little law, and he never forgot it. Years after 
those little pieces of law — and they were legion — were at his 
instantaneous command, whether he was in his office preparing 
a brief, or in the court-room trying a case. He began at the 
bottom as a corporation lawyer, and got to the top. He was 
never satisfied to know only his own side of a case. When he 
had mastered his side, he set about a study of his adversary's 
side, and he never abandoned it till he had mastered it. As 
a consequence, he was never caught napping, and in a few 
years he was in the ranks of the leading lawyers of Indiana 
and the Middle West. He was not so great a lawyer as Ben 
Harrison — who was? — but he was a more successful lawyer 
than Ben Harrison. 

During many years he was urged to enter politics and 
stand for ofiice. He resolutely refused. He was a party 
man, however, as any son of such a father must have been, 
and gave of his means to support his party's cause, and when- 
ever invited to do so, he went on the stump to aid the elec- 
tion of the Republican ticket. Thus he became a valuable 
asset to that party in Indiana. But he early determined that 
his family should have a competency and his children an edu- 
cation before he sought preferment. After he had succeeded 
at the bar, and was in the front rank of his profession in 
the Middle West, a competency secured, Fairbanks entered 
upon the field of politics. The leaders of his party in Indiana 

[hi] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

were Walter Q. Gresham and Benjamin Harrison. The first 
had been a follower of Morton, and a favorite of that remark- 
able man; the other had never been subjected to the stern 
discipline of the Great War Governor. In 1888, the Repub- 
lican party sought to force the nomination for President on 
Blaine; but when it was discovered that he did not seek the 
distinction, and would not have it, both Harrison and Gresham 
became candidates before the Chicago convention of that year. 
Fairbanks espoused the cause of Gresham, and had charge of 
his interests in the convention. At one time it seemed as 
though the movement would be crowned with triumph, and 
it is likely it would had not Gresham been indoctrinated with 
some pronounced Democratic ideas on the tariff. Be that 
as it may, Harrison was nominated, and Fairbanks plunged 
into the campaign with ardor and zeal, and contributed very 
grpatly to the election of the ticket. 

There were many bonds of sympathy and concord between 
Fairbanks and McKinley. They were natives of the same 
State, members of the same church, in absolute accord in 
political conviction, and cast in the same mold, morally. 
They were pious Christians, perfect gentlemen, and pure men, 
and when McKinley became the titular head of the party 
it was perfectly natural, absolutely inevitable, that the two 
should gravitate toward each other, and they did. For the 
twenty years between the death of Morton and the inaugura- 
tion of McKinley, Indiana was represented in the United 
States Senate by Democrats, except the single term that Ben 
Harrison served in 1881 to 1887. But the very day that 
McKinley became President, Fairbanks became Senator, and 
thus his leadership of his party in his State was consummated. 
No man was a more trusted counselor of the President than 
he, not even Mark Hanna, and thus Fairbanks suddenly 
developed into one of the most distinguished and influential 
statesmen in public life. It is interesting to dwell on the small 
things that have momentous results. Daniel Webster hun- 

[142] 



CHARLES W. FAIRBANKS 

gered for the Presidency as have few men of our history. 
Twice it was within his reach, and he refused to pluck it. He 
rejected the nomination for Vice-President in 1840 and in 
1848, and both Harrison and Taylor died in office. Mark 
Hanna offered the nomination for Vice-President to Fairbanks 
in 1900, and he very nearly consented to be a candidate for the 
nomination. McKinley died early in his second term. 

" There's a divinity that shapes our ends, 
Rough-hew them how we will." 

It is a fact, honorable to this man, that when he entered 
the Senate he abandoned the profession he loved so well, and 
in the practice of which he had been so successful; but he 
seriously contemplated resigning his seat to accept a fee of 
$100,000 that was tendered him to appear as chief counsel 
in a great cause then pending in the courts. There was no 
legal obstacle to his acceptance of the brief; but there was a 
sense of honor that stamped the sacrifice as noble. And 
again, during his whole career at the bar. Senator Fairbanks 
refused to seek political preferment on the conscientious 
grounds that his time was not his own, but had been bought 
and paid for by his clients. It is true that he made frequent 
speeches in hotly-contested political campaigns, but none of 
them was at the expense of a client, and, perhaps, it is not 
improper to say that no speech of Charles W. Fairbanks' ever 
cost the Republican party a cent. He always paid his way. 
No poHtical committee ever lost anything by this man. He 
is charged with coldness, an accusation that has proved 
fatal to the ambitions of so many public men. There was 
never a more grievous misconception than to impute a frigid 
nature to Charies W. Fairbanks. He is modest, and diffidence 
is ever the companion of that attribute. Thus, he is reserved 
in his manner to strangers, but with his intimates, who enjoy 
his confidence, there never was a more noble, open, genial, 

[143] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

frank friend and companion than Mr. Fairbanks. His life 
was one of comparative retirement until his close connection 
with President McKinley. His home, his office, and the 
court-room were his abiding-places. His habit was that of 
profound study. His mind was communing with the prin- 
ciples of his profession, his aspiration was to conserve the 
rights and promote the interests of his clients. Such a man is 
never gushing, unless he has learned the art of the hypocrite, 
the twin brother of the demagogue. No man has a more 
sympathetic heart for a tale of distress, or a more open hand 
for its relief. 

Mr. Fairbanks is fortunate and happy in his family. His 
wife is a very superior woman, who has shed untold blessings 
on her husband's married life. She is a gracious lady, and 
much of the eminent success Mr. Fairbanks has achieved is 
due to her strength of character, keen sagacity, graceful 
courtesy, and wifely love. Her high standing and immense 
popularity are evidenced by her election as President of the 
Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, a 
station she filled with as much grace as ability. 

Solomon described such a woman as she, Proverbs 31 : 12. 



[144] 




WILLIAM W. FINLEY 

President of the Southern Railway. Mr. 
Finley began at the bottom and has come out 
at the top. He was born on the Gulf of 
^lexico, at Pass Christian, :\Iississippi. The 
first money he earned, after passing through 
college, was as a stenographer in the office 
of the vice-president of what was then known 
as the ''Great Jackson Route," extending 
from New Orleans to the mouth of the Ohio River at Cairo, 
111. This line is now a part of the Illinois Central system. 
By quick stages, Mr. Finley passed from one position to 
another, until he became associated with the freight depart- 
ment of the road. It was here that he seemed to be in his 
natural element. He had native ability, which rendered him 
valuable to the company in securing revenue for it. The 
freight agent of a railroad is the man who produces the coin. 
Without him, railroads could not get on. Mr. Finley 's ser- 
vices were in demand by other roads; thereupon, as he went 
from one to another, his salary was increased. It is a well- 
known fact that railroads are always in search of men who 
are good revenue producers. Those qualities predominated 
in the career of Mr. Finley as a railroad man. He has been 
in the service of some of the best roads, and has the reputation 
of being one of the best equipped, mentally, of any railroad man 
in the country. For some years he was in the West, being 
one of the able heutenants of James J. Hill in the building of 
his Great Northern Railway, and the development of the 
countr}' through which it passes. Mr. Finley spent some 
years in the West. No man was more thought of by Mr. Hill 
than was he. When the late Samuel Spencer became presi- 

[ 145 ] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

dent of the Southern Road, under its then last reorganization, 
he invited Mr. Finley to become one of the vice-presidents. 
It is difficult to understand how Mr. Spencer could have got 
on without him. 

Like his chief, he knew every foot of the country through 
which the Southern road, with all of its branches, passes. 
He knows the people of the South. He is familiar with their 
trend of thought, as to the relations existing between railways 
and the people. He knows, personally, a large majority of 
the public men of all of the Southern States, who are, in a 
measure, responsible for the control of public opinion upon 
economic questions. The directors of the company have 
been complimented, time and time again, for the wisdom dis- 
played in selecting Mr. Finley as the president of the company 
following the death of President Spencer. It is hardly prob- 
able there is a man in the United States who could have so 
perfectly fitted into this office as Mr. Finley. Certainly, no 
one was more familiar with the policy of President Spencer 
than he. His administration, since President Spencer's death, 
in 1906, has been wise, progressive, and at the same time con- 
servative. Mr. Finley is a man who, as the head of a great 
railway company, believes in the policy of popularizing the 
road with its patrons. He knows too well the tendency of 
employes, when not properly restricted, to offend those who 
give the road its revenue and thus make it possible for the 
employes to get their living. Millions of dollars are lost 
to roads through the impoliteness of employes. This is one 
of the many reforms President Finley seems determined to 
inaugurate. He knows the value of public favor in behalf of 
a railway, and unless this good opinion prevail on the part 
of patrons, there is going to be a decrease in earnings. Mr. 
Finley travels much over all the lines of the system. He is 
almost daily coming in personal contact with every feature of 
the road's business, and at many points. He believes that it is 
part of the president's duty to have a personal knowledge and 

[146] 



WILLIAM W. FINLEY 

acquaintance with the heads of all the branches of the service, 
and also with some who are subordinates of these heads. 

]Mr. Finley has a commanding presence. He is a large, 
well-proportioned man. He is very bald, and evidently began 
losing his hair when young. He is always seen with heavy 
spectacles, and looks through them with a determination that 
reflects power. He is essentially a man of action. In his 
home life he is a splendid representative of the ruling factors 
of the South of the ante-bellum period, "old-time Southern 
hospitality." Mr. Finley is somewhat old-fashioned in his 
ways. He has an abiding faith in the simplicity of life. He 
is a man of strong friendships, and noted for his many acts of 
charity. He demands loyalty from those under him, and is 
always willing to extend the same in return. The thing he 
dislikes most to do is to discharge an employe. This is often 
essential for the good government of the organization, but he 
would rather take a whipping than do it. Sometimes he 
thinks about it for several days, believing that such and such 
a person should be eliminated from the service, and for good 
reasons. Frequently he hopes that delay in taking action 
may obviate the necessity, as the offending party may resign. 

Mr. Finley has in contemplation many improvements of 
the system which he proposes installing. He has recently 
given a contract on the largest order for the purchase of loco- 
motives that has been given by any road for many years. 
It is his intention to double-track the main line of the entire 
system as soon as the revenues justify it. 

Mr. Finley makes a splendid public address. In this re- 
spect he has few, if any, superiors. He is graceful in speak- 
ing, and is a man of unusual information upon public topics. 
He has shown wisdom in retaining in the service of the road, 
with others, Vice-President John M. Gulp, in general charge 
of traffic, who is an able lieutenant, long identified with the 
upbuilding of the company, and whose services are highly 
appreciated. 

[147] 




JOSEPH W. FOLK 

I'R. folk can be regarded as the type of man 
who is capable of doing things on his own 
initiative. It is not necessary to give him 
instructions. He knows what to do, and 
how to do it. Mr. Folk came into public 
view as among the first to prosecute and rout 
the graftsmen. Early in his official career, 
he declared himself as the friend of good 
government and the avowed enemy of that class which is 
more generally known, in the parlance of the day, as ''pro- 
fessional grafters." Mr. Folk is a native of Tennessee. He 
is quite a young man, and for one of his years has done his 
share of good deeds. When a stripling of a young man, he 
located in St. Louis, where he began the practice of law. 
Clients did not come very fast, and those who did seek aid 
and instruction in the matter of legal procedure were not 
rich. He became somewhat active in local politics. He was 
not a candidate for the office, but in some way he was selected 
as the man who, the leaders of the party believed, would make 
a good prosecuting attorney. That they were correct in their 
judgment has been long since verified; in fact, he turned out 
to be a much better servant of the people than the party 
leaders desired he should be. He did exactly what those 
leaders did not want him to do, and in doing what they opposed, 
he became a better representative of the people. It would 
seem that the party leaders, when nominating Mr. Folk for 
prosecuting attorney, were not acquainted with the man. They 
took too much for granted. They seemed to go upon the 
theory that he would be obedient to the demands of the bosses, 
and take instructions from them. About the first thing he did, 

[148] 



JOSEPH W. FOLK 

after being installed in office, was to begin the prosecution 
of some of the grafters who had been robbing the people 
of St. Louis for years, from the results of which some had 
become millionaires. 

When he began bringing to light the illegal methods by 
which political bosses were robbing the people, there were all 
kinds of excitement in St. Louis. He was threatened, time 
and time again, that if he did not cease in his efforts at enforc- 
ing the law, he would not only be driven from the city, but 
his life would be in danger. This had no effect on young 
Folk. He continued pursuing the even tenor of his way, 
looking neither to the right nor the left; but every few weeks 
he sent another "eminently respected grafter" to the peniten- 
tiary. He cleaned up the city as it had never been cleaned 
up before. A majority of the offenders "skipped" for for- 
eign countries; but, \nth one or two exceptions, by the em- 
ployment of the necessary legal machinery, he brought them 
back. Mr. Folk was the pioneer prosecutor of grafters in 
municipal affairs. He pursued so vigorous a policy that it 
immediately met with the approval of the public. It is 
believed he was offered millions of dollars if he would be 
"easy with the thieves." He threw these offers aside, as a 
child would a broken toy. It was not long until Mr. Folk 
was attracting attention throughout the length and breadth 
of the country. Some said, at the time, that he made war 
on the grafters because he desired to achieve fame. It does 
not make any difference what may have been his motive; the 
fact is, that he did his duty, and did it well. The people of 
his State were pleased to give him higher honors. They 
promoted him from the small office of prosecuting attorney to 
that of Governor— a long stride in so short a space of time. 
He had been living in Alissouri not more than seven years 
when he took the oath of office as the State's Chief Magistrate. 
As Governor, he was as conscientious in the discharge of his 
official duties as he was when opening the penitentiary doors 

[149] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

to admit the dishonest contingent in the administration of 
municipal affairs of St. Louis. 

Mr. Folk is, in the opinion of many, in line for the Presi- 
dency of the United States. His record has made him a 
national figure. He is one of the leading members of the 
Democratic party, and it is not improbable that, when the 
next Democratic national convention is held, the name of Mr. 
Folk will be conspicuous before the assemblage as a candi- 
date for that high of!ice. His friends will, undoubtedly, insist 
that he be given recognition commensurate with his deeds and 
his prominence. Mr. Folk is a modest man. He is not the 
man to thrust himself where he is not wanted. He is pleas- 
ing to gaze upon, being well proportioned, with a fine intel- 
lectual face, and manners that are just what they should be. 
He has never been one to sail under false colors. He knows 
his capabilities, and can be relied upon as always being the 
friend of the people. He is popular with those who know him 
best, and that is always a good test of a man's character. He 
is a neighborly kind of man. He will go as far as any one, 
and perhaps farther, to do a friend a favor, and without any 
thought of reward. He is a conspicuous figure about the 
streets of St. Louis, which is his home, though he is most gen- 
erally found in his law offices. He has never been friendly 
to the idea of wearing a beard. He is smoothly shaven, and 
wears heavy, rimless eye-glasses, which give him a distin- 
guished appearance. Some people may say that Governor Folk 
is proud. This is not the case. He is, however, particular. 
He believes a man is known by the company he keeps. He 
is always well dressed. He possesses many of the necessary 
elements to make him popular in any community. It is cer- 
tain that grafters will oppose him in his future political ambi- 
tions, and that is to his credit. He is not a great talker in 
private conversation, but is always a good listener. 



[150] 




JOSEPH B. FORAKER 

ORMER Governor of Ohio, former United 
States Senator — for twenty-five years, or more, 
one of the leading Republicans in the United 
States. It is doubtful whether any man 
identified \\-ith the political history of the 
country during the past three decades has 
had a more stormy political career than has 
Mr. Foraker. He has been a party fighter 
of fighters. In the many bitter contests he has waged, and 
which have been waged against him, he has never been, at 
any time, among those on the back rows. His place has 
been at the front. He has met some few defeats, though, 
upon the whole, he can claim more victories than his oppo- 
nents. From a party point of view, he has ever been con- 
sistent, safe, and sane. He has fought the battles of the Repub- 
lican party since 1883, with a power and force that have seldom 
been equaled. WTien he came into political prominence in 
Ohio, he met with much antagonism from members of his 
own party. The first time he ran for governor, he was de- 
feated. This seemed to make him stronger two years later, 
when he became the successful candidate. He was elected 
governor twice, but was defeated when he ran for the third 
term. His opponent, upon this occasion, was the dashing 
James E. Campbell, conceded to be one of the best stump 
orators that Ohio had produced in years. When at the 
zenith of his power as governor, the Republican party recog- 
nized in him a probable future candidate for the Presidency. 
He was then, by long odds, the most conspicuous leader in 
his State, and high up in the councils of the party throughout 
the Nation. He was, for some years, in a receptive mood. 

[151] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

lie had the Presidential bee buzzing in his bonnet. It was 
well that this should be the case. If any man deserved honors 
from his party, because of party leadership, it was Governor 
Foraker. It has been a long time since there were not two or 
more political factions in the Republican party in Ohio. 
Governor Foraker was frequently pitted against the power 
of John Sherman. Later, he was antagonized by the friends 
of William McKinley. Mr. Foraker saw his own star, as a 
Presidential possibility, descending; while forced to witness 
the rising of another luminary, in the person of Mr. McKinley. 
Mr. Foraker and Marcus A. Hanna were, at times, pronounced 
political antagonists. Following the election of Mr. McKinley 
to the Presidency, Mr. Foraker was strong enough to control 
his own election to the United States Senate. 

He served two terms as a Senator, and at no time during 
those twelve years was he other than the foremost member, 
exhibiting ability as a legislator and party leader second to 
none. He was still considered a Presidential possibility, 
but again came a man from his own State, William H. Taft, 
who bore away the political honors, which, by right of party 
loyalty and labor, many thought belonged to Senator Foraker, 
as the first member of his party in his State. Mr. Foraker 
is a man who has the courage of his convictions, and is never 
afraid to express them. He has accepted his defeat with a 
philosophical turn of mind that is commendable. He has 
never been known to complain or utter a word against his 
political enemies. He knows that in all the battles he has 
waged, he carried on a fair contest ; he never struck below the 
belt, and if, at any time, his opponents committed this breach 
against fair play, he generally gave them a trouncing they 
never forgot. He was the one Republican in the Senate to 
vote against President Roosevelt's pet measure, the railroad 
rate bill. It required courage to do this, because the senti- 
ment of the people, without knowing all of the provisions of 
the bill, seemed unusually clamorous for its passage. Sen- 

[152] 



JOSEPH B. FORAKER 

ator Foraker spoke and voted against it. He made no apology 
for his official acts. That he followed the dictates of his 
conscience, aU who know him are certain. New conditions 
arose in Ohio, which resulted in his not being returned to the 
Senate for a third term. He retired from the political arena 
rich in honors, and with a consciousness of having done his 
duty. No man has ever impeached the integrity of Mr. 
Foraker. He has been a unique character in the political 
affairs of the Nation. 

yir. Foraker is a man who commands admiration. His 
bold, dashing, vigorous manner won liim thousands of friends; 
yet, at the same time, probably because of his aggressiveness,' 
he aroused the ire of others who became his political enemies.' 
Few men in the history of the country have exhibited more 
vigor than he in carr}-ing on a campaign. A man of hand- 
some physique, strong, powerful, intellectual face, with dark, 
iron-gray hair, he makes a fine appearance in any gathering. 
He is a pleasing speaker, and a man of great strength as a 
debater. As a lawyer, Mr. Foraker stands at the head of his 
profession. He has acquired a handsome fortune, which he 
earned as the fruits of his professional labors. WTien retiring 
from pubHc life, he was as active in physical movement as he 
was when he entered it. He grew gray in the service of his 
party. He is a man of strong attachments. Many of his 
closest and most intimate personal friends are, by no means, 
his political chums. He has borne himself well. He admires 
pleasing surroundings, and has them. He is distinctly a man 
of the people. He never deserted a friend, when a friend 
needed his services. He had the strength of character to 
oppose many of the policies of President Roosevelt. He 
believed he was right in doing so, and subsequent events 
have verified his judgment in many cases. 



[153] 




DAVID R. FRANCIS 

REAL Captain of Industry of the Mississippi 
Valley. Mr. Francis first saw the light of 
day not far from Frankfort, Ky. His 
parents were not rich, but well-to-do. When 
^ a youngster, he had his eyes turned toward 
the western skies. He had relatives who 
had gone from Kentucky to Missouri. It 
was through their influence that young Francis 
went from his Kentucky home to St. Louis. It does not 
appear that it was a great length of time until he had taken 
fair measurement not only of St. Louis, but of the State of Mis- 
souri. All the time this was being done, it would seem that 
he was giving encouragement to the further development of 
the political germ with which he had already become inocu- 
lated. His first business experience in the city of his adoption 
was as a stock broker. It was here that he prospered, in 
time accumulating a handsome fortune, or, rather, laying the 
foundation for what has since grown to be a fortune of huge 
proportions. The instinct for money-making seemed natural. 
Whatever he touched turned to gold, or something equally as 
good. His ideas of business are large. He believes in en- 
gaging in big things. It was the brain of Mr. Francis which 
conceived the idea of celebrating the centennial of the so- 
called Louisiana Purchase, the RepubHc's first expansion, 
which was appropriately done at St. Louis, in 1904. Being 
the originator of the enterprise, he was made the president of 
the exposition. 

Mr. Francis began toying with politics when he was com- 
paratively young — in fact, he is yet a young man. His first 
political contest was as a candidate for the mayoralty of St. 

[154] 



DAMD R. FRANCIS 

Louis. He came off victor, but not without a rough-and-tumble 
struggle. He proved, in this political battle, to be one who 
could give and take hard blows. From the mayoralty he 
spread himself over the State, as it were, becoming the suc- 
cessful candidate for governor. It was here that Mr. Francis 
shone in more than usual capability of mind. Up to that 
time, it is said of him that he made the best governor that 
State ever had. He gave the people a business administration. 
In his frequent journeys to Washington, the strength of his 
individuality was recognized by President Cleveland, who 
gave him a place in his Cabinet, that of Secretary of the Interior, 
as the successor to the Hon. Hoke Smith, who resigned in con- 
sequence of his difference of opinion with the President on the 
subject of free silver. Mr. Francis was a gold Democrat. 

Personally, Air. Francis is one of the popular men in his 
section, though he is not, of course, without his enemies, the 
most of whom are probably political. In spirit, he is buoyant. 
He is optimistic. He is inchned to see the bright side, rather 
than the dark side. As a "mixer" he would achieve the 
championship, if it were possible to arrange a national, or 
even an international, contest. In personal appearance, Mr. 
Francis is good to look upon. He measures fully six feet, 
if not an inch or so over; well proportioned, tipping the beam, 
probably, at two hundred and thirty-five pounds. He has 
little time to give to people who are not as quick in thought 
and action as himself. That he possesses persuasive powers 
there is no doubt. This was conclusively shown as head of 
the Exposition Company, when he \isited the countries of 
Europe for the purpose of interesting the crowned heads in 
making appropriate exhibits. Not a European country where 
he called declined his solicitation. 

There are some of the belief that Mr. Francis has his eagle 
eye set upon the Presidency of his country, though he hopes, 
first, to secure a seat in the United States Senate. Many of 
his intimate friends and business associates may not be in 

[155] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

sympathy with him politically, yet the ties of friendship have 
expanded his political influence into other States — hence his 
longing look toward the White House. It has been said of 
Mr. Francis that if he were to become President he would 
break up the opposing party, because of his many loyal per- 
sonal friends among the Republicans. Mr. Francis is fairly 
generous in his nature. He is not, however, of the kind that 
engages in traffic unless he sees where the profit is coming 
from. In matters of dress, he is a close observer of the latest 
edicts promulgated by the tyrannical arbiters of fashion. 
Some say he has his clothes made in London. This, however, 
he denies. He is loyal to St. Louis, believing that city has the 
best tailors in the United States. His loyalty for the Mound 
City cannot be questioned. 

His laugh is infectious. It is of the kind that will put 
even a hostile community in good humor; not only infectious, 
but loud and hearty. His ever-dancing blue eyes are a part 
of his fortune. The Francis home, in St. Louis, is the meet- 
ing-place of the fashionable contingent. Its hospitality is 
famous, the latch string ever on the outside. During Mr. 
Francis' political campaigns he developed into a forceful and 
interesting speaker. There are few banquets given in the 
Mississippi Valley, by those identified with the industrial in- 
terests, which are not graced by his presence. He not only 
makes a strong speech, but has delivered some very amusing 
ones. He takes special delight in the development of the 
highest breed of dogs. He has spent large sums of money on 
them, in consequence of his love for his canine friends. He is 
as fond of horses as he is of dogs; therefore, this should serve 
as an index to his character. He has never found, in all his 
travels, a dish that so appealed to him as fried chicken, just 
like they ''used to cook it in Kentucky." 



[156I 




HENRY C. FRICK 

NE OF the leading factors in the industrial 
afTairs of Pittsburg and its surroundings. 
The name of Henry C. Frick has appeared 
much in the public press of the past fifteen 
or twenty years. In a general way, he is 
probably better known than most men who 
have not been more identified with public 
afTairs. He is quite different from his old- 
time friend and former partner, Andrew Carnegie. Mr. 
Frick is a product of Western Pennsylvania. He was thrust 
into a commercial career at a very early age. His first knowl- 
edge of the business world was as an employe of his uncle, 
who was the owner of a flouring mill. Young Frick soon 
became familiar with the method of turning the golden grain 
into the finished product. He learned the trade of milling. 
He knew how to set the burrs to get the greatest number of 
pounds of flour from a bushel of wheat, and at the same time 
make good flour. His milling career, however, was merely 
preliminary to a greater one. He had in mind the industry 
that attracted him later, and from which he made a great 
fortune and became a power in the industrial world. This 
was the coke business. He was, likewise, among the first 
on the ground in the unparalleled development of the iron and 
steel industry in and about Pittsburg. He was not many 
years in the coke business until he became identified mth. 
kindred interests. He proved to be clear-headed, enterprising, 
and a man of unusually fine judgment. He saw everything 
purely from a commercial point of view. His one great hobby, 
if such it can be called, was the determination to reduce the 
cost of production; not, however, for the purpose of lowering 

[157] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

the cost of labor, but in the invention of modern machinery 
which would bring about the necessary decrease in cost. Mr. 
Frick, from the very beginning of his career, was an upbuilder 
of affairs. He has never been pessimistic. He is always an 
optimist. He is not a man who will permit interference with 
his plans. He is an independent thinker. He knows what he 
wants, and the best way to get it. 

In earlier days, he and Mr. Carnegie were bosom friends, 
and made fortunes while partners. For some unstated reason, 
they had a difference. What it really was may never be 
known. There have, however, been conjectures. It would 
hardly seem probable that these giants of industry should 
become jealous of each other. At any rate, they parted com- 
pany for a while. Mr. Carnegie constructed one of the 
highest office buildings in Pittsburg. In the opinion of many, 
this was but another monument that Mr. Carnegie had built 
to himself. It was given his name, and, being of great dimen- 
sions, the owner was taking on additional fame. This, it 
would seem, rankled in the breast of Mr. Frick. Not to be 
outdone by the little Scotchman, Mr. Frick purchased ground 
almost adjoining the Carnegie building. Upon this he erected 
a mammoth structure, taller and larger in every way than the 
one owned by the pilgrim from Skibo Castle. Mr. Frick 
announced, at one time, that he proposed establishing a rival 
steel company to that controlled by the Scottish laird. This 
was more than little Andrew cared to contend with. He 
hoisted the flag of truce, and "came across." The two men 
again became friends. In 1892, Mr. Frick was the recipient 
of a bullet from the hand of a would-be assassin, who had an 
imaginary grievance against the steel king. His life hung 
by a slender thread for weeks. This was about the first time 
that Mr. Frick was known much beyond the section of Western 
Pennsylvania. At the time, he was the general manager of 
the Carnegie Steel Company. The man who shot him was 
promptly tried and imprisoned. For a time, it was feared the 



HENRY C. FRICK 

wound might give Mr. Frick serious trouble later in life; 
but this, it would seem, is not the case. Mr. Frick was one 
of several other gentlemen who, as trustees, demanded a re- 
organization of the Equitable Assurance Society, after that in- 
stitution became involved in its historic scandal. The position 
taken by Mr. Frick— he, in fact, being the leader— had much 
to do with the re-establishing of confidence in the minds of 
all policy-holders. It cleared the insurance atmosphere. 

Mr. Frick is a striking man in appearance. He is tall, 
handsome, and graceful. His beard, which has become iron- 
gray, adorns a youthful-appearing face. He began getting 
gray when comparatively a young man. He has always 
been a believer in the idea of living well. Long before he 
was as rich as he is to-day, he built one of the handsomest 
residences in the most fashionable section of Pittsburg. It 
was lu.xuriously furnished, many of the more expensive arti- 
cles having been purchased abroad. It is not believed that 
any of the Pittsburg millionaires has exhibited a greater 
fondness for the artistic than has Mr. Frick. He is a distinct 
lover of the beautiful. The great array of objects of art in 
and about his residence verifies this statement. When in 
New York, he is a patron of the Grand Opera. He has 
traveled much abroad, and is familiar with all the art galleries 
of Europe. He is rather retiring in disposition. He cares 
little or nothing for being publicly known, yet his position as 
a leading financier has brought him much into public view. 
He is a fine, manly man. Mr. Frick is rated as being the 
possessor of several million dollars. He is in position to 
indulge his taste in anything his fancy may dictate. He is 
moderate and temperate in all things. He is entertaining in 
conversation. He has never forgotten his early country days, 
and is ever mindful of the fact that some of the greatest men 
in history had their beginning in the rural districts. He likes 
plain people, and he desires the association of those who see 
the bright side of life. 

[159] 




CHARLES FROHMAN 

NE of the leading theatrical producers and 
managers in New York and London. Mr. 
Frohman represents something in art circles 
f that is difficult to understand, if not to define. 
His early surroundings were not of such 
a character as would lead one to believe that 
anything pertaining to art, dramatic or other- 
wise, could have found lodgment in Mr. 
Frohman's productive brain. He had few early advantages. 
The place of his nativity, Sandusky, Ohio, was as far removed 
from anything relating to the uplift of the American stage as 
could be imagined. His boyhood was, of course, spent at 
school; but history does not say of him that he exhibited 
any particularly brilliant qualities as a student. His first 
employment was as a messenger boy to Horace Greeley, 
editor of the New York Tribune. He was given his position 
through the influence of his brothers, Gustave and Daniel, 
who had for some years been connected with the paper, both 
in business and reportorial capacities. Daniel, the second 
brother, had a liking for writing about the stage and stage 
affairs. Gustave and Daniel became theatrical managers, 
and gave Charles his first employment in connection with 
theaters. No youngster ever engaged in any pursuit with 
more enthusiasm than did Charles Frohman. For a time, 
he served as an advance agent, and sometimes as treasurer 
of his brothers' companies. In this capacity, he also acted 
for "Jack" Haverley, the minstrel manager. Haverley 
sometimes managed companies composed exclusively of 
colored people. This is believed to be about the first time 
that colored entertainers had access to the better class of 

[i6o] 



CHARLES FROHMAN 

theaters. Charles Frohman was, for some three or four 
years, treasurer of some of Haverley's colored companies. 
This was his active beginning, and he has developed into 
the recognized leading producing manager of America. It 
was quite a step from his humble beginning to being the 
manager of fifteen or more of the leading dramatic organiza- 
tions of the United States, and also the manager and pro- 
prietor of from seven to nine theaters in New York and 
about five in London, to say nothing of his associate interests 
with the theatrical syndicate. 

Mr. Frohman has always been known as a plunger in 
his business affairs, or, rather, such was his reputation earher 
in his career; but as he advances in years, he is more con- 
servative. In the early nineties, when Mr. Frohman an- 
nounced his intention of engaging in the business on a gigantic 
plan, almost every other theatrical manager in the United 
States prophesied his failure. He smiled, but said nothing. 
He is not a man who has much to say to any one. He does 
not claim to know much, except about his own business. He 
has developed more raw stage material into the finished 
product than any man in this country. The meaning of this 
is, that he has created more stars in the dramatic firmament 
than any of his confreres. Some have twinkled a while, and 
disappeared, while others have retained their fixed position in 
the constellation. He is ever on the lookout for young actors 
and actresses who seem to possess the requisite talent to be 
brought to the front. Mr. Frohman's judgment on these 
lines is usually good, although it is not infallible. In the 
matter of producing plays, he admits that he has made, and, 
no doubt, will continue to make, errors, which mean the loss 
of large expenditures. He says he is satisfied if he secures 
one successful play out of every five he produces. He admits 
that it is the public which passes final judgment as to whether 
a play is worth while or not, though he may have the highest 
opinion of it. In some respects, Mr. Frohman is autocratic, 

[i6i] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

or at least imperious, with his fellow-managers, and also 
with members of his organizations. He recognizes himself 
as not the power behind the throne, but the throne itself. He 
is not without a good opinion of himself. 

When Mr. Frohman advanced to a high position, com- 
manding attention from the press throughout the country, 
there was quite a demand from editors for his photograph, 
that they might reproduce it in their publications. Mr. Froh- 
man's modesty revolted at this, saying he did not desire his 
pictures printed. Editors are resourceful; therefore, if they 
could not get a likeness of Mr. Frohman, they could have 
their own artists make one of him, and this they did. What 
has been the result? Mr. Frohman has been represented 
in appearance twice his real age, three times his real size, 
and as unhke his real self as possible. Mr. Frohman is 
rather a good-looking man. He is small in stature, round 
in face and head — a bit chubby in appearance. He is past 
fifty years of age. In appearance, he is very like a boy. 
Sometimes a bit rollicking in his manner, he usually clothes 
himself with the necessary dignity coincident with his 
occupation and position. While a money-maker, he cares 
little for money, although he does not want to lose money; 
yet, he is a ''good loser." This is a quality that many suc- 
cessful theatrical people should possess. He is extravagant 
in many things. He seldom writes a letter to go forward by 
post. When in New York, he communicates with his London 
office by cable, and likewise the same system prevails in com- 
municating with his New York office when he is in London. 
Much of this would, probably, bring about the same business 
results if left to the five-day ships passing between the two 
cities; but it all goes by telegraph. When an idea occurs to 
him — and he is prolific of them — which he believes the office 
force on the other side should know, no matter which side it is, 
he "shoots" it forward by cable, usually prefixing it with the 
word "Rush," which costs the price of an extra word. He 

[162] 



CHARLES FROHMAN 

resides about half of his time in London, the other half in New 
York. If King Edward had lived, many of those identified 
with the profession in London believe that Mr. Frohman 
would have been knighted, and known as Sir Charles. What 
may be the view of George V. on this subject is not known, 
but the chances are he will never do it. Mr. Frohman has 
done more to establish and advance the school of natural acting 
than all of the theatrical men in the United States combined. 
He wears, with becoming dignity, the title bestowed upon 
him some years ago, the ''Napoleon of theatrical affairs in 
America." 



[163] 



ELBERT H. GARY 




HAIR MAN of the Board of Directors of the 
United States Steel Corporation. The career 
of Mr. Gary in the world of finance would, 
if written, read like a romance, and would 
require much space to give it in detail. Hav- 
ing reached a few years beyond three score, 
he is now, and has been for the past fifteen 
years, one of the dominating and picturesque 
figures in the field of the industrial world, not alone in the 
United States, but in all countries where steel is manufac- 
tured in great quantities. Mr. Gary is a native of Illinois. 
His early manhood was spent at \Vheaton, in that State, where 
he rose to some distinction as a lawyer, later becoming a 
county judge. He is known as Judge Gary by all of his inti- 
mates, and in the newspaper articles printed about him, he is 
usually given the distinction of this prefix. It was when 
presiding as a judge in the county court of his native State, 
and, later, when practicing in Chicago, that he became im- 
pressed with the immense volume of steel that was entering 
into all of the industrial crafts of the world. He began study- 
ing steel from its formation in the raw material to the com- 
pletion of the finished product. He knew of the great triumphs 
that had been made in steel development by such men 
as Thomson and Bessemer, the Englishmen who, on coming 
to America, made great discoveries incident to the further 
development of the product. In brief, there is nothing about 
steel or its manufacture of which Judge Gary has not informed 
himself. After getting an insight into the business, he was 
soon able to demonstrate to capitalists and practical steel 
men that he knew as much as they did. He saw its future 
possibilities, and the enormous wealth it was destined to 
produce. The consolidation of the various steel interests 

[164] 



ELBERT H. GARY 

into one gigantic corporation was the result of Judge 
Gary's far-sightedness. It is evident that he possesses un- 
usual ability to be at the head of so great a corporation, hav- 
m<^ been chosen for this position by the foremost steel manu- 
facturers of the country. 

He is a clean-cut, quick thinker, sees the important point 
at once, grasps the situation in its full scope with remark- 
able clearness. He has been able to make this company 
earn two dollars where the previous organizations were 
scarcely able to earn one. He has made steel-making the im- 
perial industry of the country. He has had honors thrust 
upon him that come to few men. The town of Gary, a 
few miles east of Chicago, on the shores of Lake Michigan, 
the model steel town of the world, has been given this name 
in recognition of the great assistance Judge Gary has ren- 
dered in making the company of which he is the president 
the dominating factor in the steel industry of the world. 
The town, when completed, will be unlike any other muni- 
cipality in the United States. Every artisan will be in the 
employ of the steel company. The raw material will be 
brought in ships from the great ore deposits of Minnesota, 
on the bosom of the waters of Lake Superior and Lake Michi- 
gan, to the town of Gary, where it will be converted into the 
finished product. As a lawyer, Judge Gary was a fairly 
successful practitioner. As judge, he was an ideal adminis- 
trator of the law's decrees. He was one of the kind of judges 
who believed litigants should settle their troubles out of court. 
When a practitioner, he was inclined to frown upon those 
who came determined to seek satisfaction by legal procedure, 
admonishing his neighbors and friends, at all times, that wise 
men adjust their differences among themselves; fools take 
their troubles to court. 

Personally, Judge Gary is a delightful companion, although 
it cannot be said that he has many intimates. He possesses 
the kind of brain that takes on large undertakings. His is 

[165] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

a mind that would lead some men to establish empires, 
where others would be satisfied with villages. It cannot 
be said that he is in the least visionary, though he may 
impress others that he sees milhons at every turn of the road. 
He is not a large man, nor is he one who could be called hand- 
some; yet he is pleasing to observe, because of his strong 
mental equipment. He usually dresses with becoming taste 
and exquisite neatness, though he apparently thinks little on 
this subject. His face is smooth, except for a small, gray, 
cropped mustache. His forehead is projecting, indicating 
his powers of keen observation. His face is smiling and 
large. Judge Gary is not promiscuous in his diversions. 
He is believed to be at the highest point of his social accom- 
plishments when ordering a dinner. It is here that he fairly 
revels. His imagination is so intense that it is said of him 
that, while ordering a meal, he experiences the pleasure of an 
imaginary taste of every article. This may be regarded as 
the last word in Epicurean science. It is not, however, the 
ordering the dinner that seems to please the judge the most, 
but it is in having his friends eat it with him. He is capable 
of delivering a classical lecture on the art of eating. He is not 
what may be termed a high liver, but a good liver. He is an 
observer of the Fletcher theory of eating, which consists, chiefly, 
of thorough mastication. He eats slowly, but talks briskly. 
Judge Gary has his share of fondness for good wines, 
although not an excessive drinker of them. He has his favor- 
ite authors, but the man who wrote the best history of the 
manufacture of steel in the world, with all of its attendant 
discoveries and annexes, may be regarded as his favorite. 
When he lived in Illinois, his favorite pastime of late after- 
noons was to go buggy-riding. If automobiles that could 
be speeded five hundred miles per hour were being made. 
Judge Gary would buy two. He never forgets the town of 
Wheaton, and the institution of learning there. The generosity 
of his purse is always in evidence for the good of Wheaton. 

[i66] 




WILLIAM J. GAYNOR 

^AYOR of the City of New York. Mayor 
Gaynor is being reckoned by the best minds 
of both political parties as one who is likely 
to be called to positions of greater political 
prominence — in truth, he is already a Presi- 
dential possibility by the Democratic party 
in 191 2. Mayor Gaynor is, probably, more 
independent in the expression of his political 
opinions than most men of similar standing. He is not what 
may be called a machine politician. He was first brought 
forth as a candidate for Mayor by a coterie of business men 
in New York, irrespective of politics. His personality is of 
such strength that the leading Democratic organization of 
the city recognized in him one possessing qualifications that 
would appeal to the voters. He was elected by a large plural- 
ity, being, in fact, the only successful candidate put forth by 
the regular Democratic organization. He received the votes 
of Tammany, but he does not wear Tammany's collar. Mayor 
Gaynor is a native of the State of New York. At one time, 
he was a reporter on a Brooklyn newspaper. He estab- 
lished himself as a lawyer in that city, and it was not long 
until he had advanced to the position of one of the leading 
attorneys in his community. Being a Democrat of the old- 
fashioned kind, his party elevated him to a place upon the 
State bench. His conduct as a judge reflected the character 
of the man, showing him to be one who was ever attempting 
to safeguard the rights of the people against the vicious com- 
binations of corporations and other offensive selfish bodies. 
He resigned his judgeship to accept the nomination for Mayor. 
He was installed in his present office in January of 19 10. He 

[167! 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

has seen the rights of the people subordinated to the power 
of money by almost every device known to the minds of New 
York tricksters. Mayor Gaynor has eradicated from the 
police force two of the most infamous practices known to 
modern ingenuity. Strange as it may seem to progressive 
civilization, it had been the custom, for years, of the New 
York police force, when making arrests, to photograph the 
person arrested before trial, and place the picture in 
the Rogues' Gallery; so listing the accused as a criminal, 
although he may subsequently be proven innocent. Mayor 
Gaynor stopped this practice at the very beginning of his 
administration. Another reform he inaugurated with the 
police force was to remove the so-called "plain-clothes man." 
He insists that every police officer, no matter what may be his 
position, shall be seen, when on duty, wearing his uniform. 
The ''plain-clothes man," in his opinion, is a menace to 
decent government. It is a deception practiced upon the 
public, as he reasons it. He has brought forth many other 
necessary reforms, all for the benefit of the people. 

Mayor Gaynor has demonstrated to the members of the 
police force that they are the servants of the people, and not 
the masters. This proved to be quite a shock to them; but 
he has made them realize that law and order are in the 
ascendancy. Mayor Gaynor is not the kind of man who 
would insist that anything should be done contrary to the 
law; but if it is the law, he will demand that it be both upheld 
and respected. He is an untiring worker, and absolutely 
fearless. At times, he is a bit irritable, and does not have that 
equipoise of temper that is so becoming to the average man. 
He flies into tantrums, and raises a tempest at times; but it 
is soon over. It doesn't last long. He makes things move 
at all times. He is strong in his friendships, and is not ordi- 
narily suspicious of his fellow-men. He believes the majority 
of men are honest. He is an unrelenting foe of grafters, 
whether thev be political or otherwise. According to his 

[i68] 



WILLIAM J. GAYNOR 

views, the cause of the people comes first. If anything is 
to be sacrificed, he believes it should be money, rather than 
life. He is making a record, also, in administering the finan- 
cial affairs of New York City in a sane, sensible, and econom- 
ical manner. He is saving, to the tax-payers, hundreds of 
thousands annually, and in no way retarding the business 
necessities of the city. He has done much to rout the political 
hangers-on, who have enjoyed sinecures, but performed no 
particular service. It seems in the cards that Mayor Gaynor 
will be the choice of the Democratic party of New York State 
for President. 

The dastardly attempt on Mayor Gaynor's life, by a dis- 
charged employe of the city, who was separated from his 
stipend because of neglect of duty, serves to illustrate what 
may happen to an honest man when he gets into politics. 
Fortunately, the Mayor's recovery has been rapid, and the 
people arc to have the benefit of his continued usefulness. 
Mayor Gaynor is a man of unusual force. He is progres- 
sive and determined. No one can swerve him from what he 
believes to be his duty. He is as honest as the day is long. 
The Mayor is a man of simple habits. He was brought up 
in the rural districts of Central New York, and has not for- 
gotten his early teachings. He cares practically nothing for 
fashionable dress; yet few men are better or more consistently 
attired than he. He is a great home-folks man. He could, 
if he wished it, have an automobile to take him to and from 
his office, at the city's expense; but he generally walks, 
and the distance is some three or four miles. When the 
weather is inclement, he goes by street car. He is fond of 
his books. He is a man of big heart and warm sympathies. 
There are few days in his life in which he is not performing 
some noble act for those less fortunate than himself. If he 
were a rich man, the chances are he would dispense large sums 
of money in charity. As it is, he is ever willing to open his 
purse for a deserving outstretched hand. New York has not 

[169] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

had at its head a man in years who so stands for the people 
as does Mayor Gaynor. He is an honor to his city, his State, 
and his country, and that his services are appreciated was 
shown by the universal sympathy he received when shot. 

Mayor Gaynor is, probably, one of the foremost students 
of the Bible of men conspicuously before the public. He has 
read through and through, time after time, this inspired book. 
He can quote it copiously from memory. While he remained 
in the hospital, suffering from his wounds, he spent much of 
his time in reading it, seemingly never tiring. 



[170] 




THOMAS PRYOR GORE 

ROM a blind boy, addressing the unresponsive 
oaks of a Mississippi forest, to a blind man, 
moving the United States Senate with his 
clociuence — in such wise has Thomas Pryor 
Gore advanced. Demosthenes, with a mouth- 
ful of pebbles, tr}'ing to articulate clearly 
above the roar of the sea, was planning at 
a later day to free Greece with his oratory. 
Gore, addressing his native oaks and pines, so perfected his 
oral expression as to become, from his sophomore days forward, 
a candidate for the Senate. 

There is much of romance and a portion of pathos in the 
life and achievements of Senator Gore. The romance is, of 
course, in his rise from a poor backwoods boy, without money, 
to his place in the United States Senate, still poor. The 
pathos is to see this Senator, led to his seat by a bright-cheeked 
page; to watch his sightless eyes rove through the chamber 
as he speaks, to know that, except for eleven years of his life, 
he has lived in physical darkness. 

Rut Gore has lived in mental light, and it shines from 
his face. When he rises in the Senate — his thin hair fluttering, 
his gestures calm but expressive, his voice full of the inflections 
of sadness and sincerity, he looks an honest and a pure man, 
and such he is. One of the most piteous stories in public life 
was that told by Gore during the long session of the Sixty- 
first Congress : how a rich man, a man who could see, attempted 
to bribe the blind man who could not, even with certainty of 
location, strike out at his insulter. The blind man, his repu- 
tation unsullied, it is true, but with little of this world's goods 
to keep him and his family, denounced the would-be briber 

[i/i] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

in the Senate; yet he had to repeat his charges thrice before 
the Senate understood their import. 

Ever since the accident of childhood which destroyed his 
sight, Gore has refused to accept the favors to which his blind- 
ness would entitle him. When his father would have sent him 
to the Mississippi Institute for the Blind, Gore elected to attend 
the State university, and take his chances with the others. 
And without favor he led in scholarship. The only con- 
cession which his bhndness gives him to-day is a respectful 
hearing from those Senators who happen to be in the chamber 
when he speaks. But you will observe that nearly all are 
present when Gore speaks. The reason is that they know 
the speech will be meaty and finished, and enunciatory of 
some high public purpose. 

Gore grew up outside party lines, and so he was found, 
about the time of Cleveland's second nomination, attacking 
the Cleveland principles. When the Populist party was at 
its height. Gore was a Bryan Populist, and one of those who 
secured the nomination of Bryan by that party, in 1896. 
By 1899 he had changed, however, to an ardent Bryan Demo- 
crat, and the party in Texas, to which State he had removed, 
welcomed him as one of the most brilliant and useful con- 
verts they could have made. Since that time, in Texas, in 
Oklahoma, as candidate and as Senator, Gore has been 
faithful to the best in himself and in his party. He has re- 
membered his Emerson, "A foolish consistency is the hob- 
goblin of little minds," but he has distinguished this foolish 
consistency from fidelity and proper devotion to principles 
and leaders. 

Of course, Gore has always to meet the tearful face of pity, 
and to feel that his successes come to him because he is sight- 
less and a figure of pathos. But those who have watched his 
course in public affairs, who have seen him press a measure 
in committee and on the floor, who have heard him in debate 
hold his own with able Senators, and often crush opposition 

[172] 



THOMAS PRYOR GORE 

with brilliant repartee or remorseless information, know that 
Gore has been successful because he has the qualifications of 
success. Gore is an able Senator, few abler; a fine orator 
indeed; an honorable legislator; and quixotic enough to fail 
of riches by many thousands of dollars. 

Senator Gore has illusions. That is, cynics and even the 
intensely practical would term them illusions; but to Gore 
they are actual hopes. To quote him, he ''hopes to see the 
dawning of that golden day when courts, cabinets, and con- 
gresses shall have as much respect for the man that sows the 
grain and reaps the harvest as they have for the man that 
gambles for the necessaries of life upon the boards of trade; 
when they will have as much respect for the man that cuts 
the tie and lays the rail as they have for the man that owns 
a system of railroads, and that dominates the commerce of an 
empire; when they will have as much respect for the man that 
carries the hod or lays the brick as they have for the man 
that owns a palatial residence in Fifth Avenue and a business 
block in Broadway— when courts, cabinets, and congresses will 
have as much respect for the man that digs the coal and cuts 
the stone as they have for the man upon whose brow flames 
a circlet of gold, and flashes a cluster of imperial gems!" 

''Equal rights to all, special privileges to none." That 
is what Gore is saying. And though many may scoff and call 
the doctrine impossible, and the terms of it rant, they all 
admit that Gores are necessary to the brotherhood of man. 



[173] 




CHARLES H. GRASTY 

Publisher, part owner, and general man- 
ager of the Baltimore Sun, newspaper. Mr. 
Grasty is entitled to be classed among the 
very successful managers in the United States. 
He has had a long and varied career, and has 
met success at every point. He is a native 
of Virginia. After reaching man's estate, 
he went West — to Missouri. He settled in 
Kansas City, and it was not long until he was at the head of 
one of the new papers established there. It was a bit uphill 
work, to compete with older and well-established publications ; 
but he edf^ed his way in, making a place for himself as well 
as for his paper. Mr. Grasty, ever on the lookout for something 
better, began casting glances in the direction of the rising sun. 
He looked across the broad expanse of the Mississippi Valley, 
and beyond the Alleghenies to the water's edge of Chesapeake 
Bay. His eyes lit on the City of Baltimore, the real com- 
mercial metropolis of the South Atlantic States. As he 
viewed it, Baltimore was then in need of a good, high-class 
afternoon newspaper, which it had never possessed. He 
became the directing genius of The Evening News, which, 
under the guidance of himself and associates, was developed 
into one of the best-paying newspaper properties in the country. 
Mr. Grasty, being independent in politics, made a paper, 
as he believed, for the benefit of the readers, and not the 
organ of any political creed or party. As the paper pro- 
gressed and grew in wealth and influence, so did Mr. Grasty. 
His reputation as a newspaper manager spread pretty well 
over the country, which emphasizes the old saying that "nothing 
succeeds like success." He made the property so valuable 

[174] 



CHARLES H. GRASTY 

that other people wanted to get possession of it. He did not 
indicate that the paper was for sale, but was willing to sell 
if he got his price, which he did, the purchaser being Frank 
A. Munsey. When Mr. Grasty parted with his Baltimore 
paper, he had in cash quite a good-sized fortune, which he 
had made in comparatively a short space of time, not exceed- 
ing fifteen years. 

Mr. Grasty was not to be idle in the future. He thought 
again of the West, but this time the Northwest. He set his 
eagle eye on St. Paul, in ^Minnesota. He was destined to do 
things, in a newspaper sense, in that city. He purchased a 
half interest in The Evening Despatch, one of the best-paying 
and most progressive newspaper properties in the North Star 
State. He had not long been one of the directors of The 
Despatch when he and his partner absorbed the St. Paul 
Pioneer Press, at one time the foremost publication west of 
Chicago. For years it had been the great morning paper, 
not only for Minnesota and Northern Wisconsin, but covering 
almost the entire territory from St. Paul to the Puget Sound. 
It was Mr. Grasty who conceived the idea of its purchase and 
consolidation, although The Despatch and The Pioneer Press 
were, and still are, occupying their original positions as the 
leading afternoon and morning papers of St. Paul. Following 
this consohdation, he disposed of his interests, returning to 
Baltimore. There was yet more for him to conquer in the 
newspaper world — the Baltimore Sun, a paper without a 
rival in conservatism and potentiality, which no one believed 
would ever change ownership except from natural causes. 
]Mr. Grasty believed that he would like to become the di- 
recting head of this fine property. It required some time 
to complete negotiations, but eventually he acquired what 
he had set out to possess. Mr. Grasty is essentially a con- 
servative newspaper upbuilder. His fine record stamps him 
as a man who is safe, sane, and solvent. It is a pretty sure 
thing that any paper under the direction of Mr. Grasty will 

[175] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

never be made to do anything that will be opposed to the 
best interests of the community. He took this stand in his 
early days, and has hewed close to that line ever since. 

It has never been Mr. Grasty's custom to appear much 
in the limelight. He has always been a bit backward about 
coming forward, if by so doing he is to project himself per- 
sonally. His modesty will prevent his doing this. He has 
always preferred that his newspapers should speak for him, 
and he speaks for his newspapers through the wisdom he 
displays in conducting them. He is somewhat fond of club 
life, and Baltimore is a city of fine clubs. He is a great 
golf player, and would play in winter time with snow two feet 
deep, if it were possible, with as much exhilaration as he does 
in May. He is likewise fond of horseback riding, and is one 
of the best equestrians in the Monumental City. Mr. Grasty, 
however, is, first of all, a high-class business man. He has 
always run his papers on high business principles. He is 
not an alarmist, and is rather given to seeing the pleasant 
side of life before investigating where the dark side may 
come from, should it come at all. Mr. Grasty is not much of 
a talker, unless it be in driving a bargain; then he can con- 
verse like a commercial traveler. He talks to the point, and 
usually talks quickly. He is not given to beating about the 
bush, but comes square out and hits the bull's-eye at the first 
shot. Mr. Grasty is a fine-appearing man. He would be 
taken, any place, for a man of afifairs. No one has ever seen 
him when he was not one of the best-dressed men in the 
assemblage. He can afford to indulge his taste in the direc- 
tion of luxury, although to him good dressing is not a luxury, 
nor a necessity, but something a man may do if he can 
afford it. Mr. Grasty justly occupies a place as one of the 
real captains of American industry. 



[176] 




SIMON GUGGENHEIM 

NWORTHY sons of rich men are frequently 
the product of American civilization; but 
in the case of Simon Guggenheim, senior 
Senator, at this writing, from Colorado, 
the parent tree bore better fruit. For though 
Meyer Guggenheim, founder of the copper 
and silver empire for his family, was a com- 
mercial genius, in his sons, and in Simon 
Guggenheim first of all, he left men able to bear the tremen- 
dous burdens and responsibilities of his affairs. 

Out in Colorado — and it is good to judge a man's charac- 
ter by the sentiment of his home people — they laugh about 
the Alaska stories of the Guggenheims, how they are reported 
to have pillaged and even killed to foster their land aggression. 
The Colorado people, who elected Simon Guggenheim to 
speak for them in the United States Senate, say that he is 
honest, and just, and good. And as he has hved among them 
since 1888, employed them and worked with them for the best 
interests of their homes and communities, they ought to know. 
In the Senate, Mr. Guggenheim is unobtrusive and likable. 
He is not often heard in debate; but, in spite of his great for- 
tune, he is as painstaking in his Senatorial duties as if he 
feared that neglect of them might bring upon him financial 
ruin. He looks scrupulously after the interests of his people, 
and when one considers how patiently this man of great busi- 
ness affairs and methods had to learn the legislator's trade, 
the quality of his success will be better understood. For 
when he was elected to the Senate, Simon Guggenheim untied 
all his connections with the great enterprises of his family and 
devoted his time and effort entirely to the duties of his office. 

[177] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

Political honors came to Guggenheim, of Colorado, more 
as a result of his prominence and unobtrusive philanthropy 
than because he sought them. In 1896, the Silver Republican 
party nominated him for lieutenant-governor, but he was under 
the constitutional age— he was born in 1867— and he with- 
drew from the ticket, which was successful. Two years ago 
he was offered the gubernatorial nomination of the Republican 
party, but he declined it. Between 1898 and 1907, when he 
was elected to the Senate, Guggenheim took no further part 
in politics than to serve as Presidential elector for Theodore 
Roosevelt, in 1904. 

There is a prejudice in many quarters against there sitting 
in Congress the heads of enterprises so powerful and so 
connected with the public business as that of the Guggen- 
heims. But the manner in which Simon of that name is per- 
forming his Senatorial duties, and the fact that, although there 
are many spies and opposing newspapers, not one public act 
of his has ever reflected upon his conduct of his office, do much 
to offset such a prejudice. 



[178] 




BRUCE HALDEMAN 

HEN Walter N. Haldeman, the famous founder 
of the Louis\ille Courier- Journal and the 
Louisville Times, died in 1902, he was suc- 
ceeded as president of the company by Bruce 
Haldeman, his youngest son. Although at 
the time of his succession to the great publish- 
ing interests Bruce Haldeman was not yet 
forty, he had been especially trained for 
his work, and had by that time demonstrated his general 
ability as a newspaper man. To-day, as vice-president of the 
American Newspaper Publishers' Association, as one of the 
arbiters for that powerful organization of the differences which 
arise between the publishers and their craftsmen, and as 
president of the remarkably influential and successful Louis- 
ville newspapers, he is one of the most important newspaper 
men in America. 

Before he became president of The Courier- Journal Com.- 
pany, Bruce Haldeman had been trained in all departments of 
a newspaper. He came home to Louis\ille from the Uni- 
versity of Virginia, prepared to learn his father's business in 
every respect. He acted as the representative, in Louisville, 
of the Associated Press. For a time he served as a Courier- 
Journal reporter. Graduating from that, he became assistant 
city editor of The Courier-Journal, and learned how to read 
''copy," and prepare it for the composing-room, and how to 
send reporters out on "assignments" so that the news-field 
was covered properly. He then was made managing editor 
of The Courier-Journal, and his conduct, without an assistant, 
of that important place showed that he had learned his 
primary lessons. When the founder died, and Bruce Halde- 

[179] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

man succeeded him, he was well prepared to steer the family 
properties over a course which has been extremely successful. 

The work which Bruce Haldeman is doing, day by day, 
is less conspicuous than that of many of his employes. Many 
a writer of ''signed stories" in The Courier- Journal is better 
known by reputation, although the retiring nature and habits 
of the president of the company are, in a way, responsible. 
He does not care for the limelight ; he cares less for it, per- 
haps, than any man on his newspapers. In the conferences 
of the American Newspaper Publishers' Association, however, 
Haldeman's abilities and responsibihties are fully recognized. 
His position as vice-president and as arbiter indicates this. 

Bruce Haldeman is the veteran member of the association's 
standing committee to adjust differences with typographers, 
pressmen, stereotypers, and the other union-labor employes 
of all the newspapers of importance in the United States. 
He has sat for five years on this committee. It consists of 
three members, who, with three members from the Inter- 
national Typographical Union, for example, handle and 
adjust, monthly, all matters of wage and working conditions. 
This affects thousands of printers and other newspaper artisans 
in the Western hemisphere. Its offices, during disagreements 
between publishers and printers in Denver and San Francisco, 
for instance, prevented a walk-out that would have affected 
the facihties of many Western newspapers. It is a commen- 
tary on Bruce Haldeman's direction of The Courier- Journal 
and The Times that he has never had a serious disagreement 
of his own to adjust. 

In the South, he is the most important newspaper pro- 
prietor. In the nation, he ranks in importance and ability 
with Pulitzer, Otis, James Gordon Bennett, John R. McLean, 
and Frank Munsey. 

A clever man says of Bruce Haldeman: 

''Few people know him; but all people would like to know 
him better." 

[i8o] 



BRUCE HALDEMAN 

This is an admirable characterization. Bruce Haldeman 
is of the reserved, dignified, courteous type that has much 
personal charm and little inclination broadly to exert it. His 
person is handsome; his manner is courtly and pleasant; his 
mind works in a superior way. Public appearance and activity 
he leaves to others; the less noticed but extremely valuable 
duties of seeing that the newspapers come out at a profit to 
their readers and to themselves every day he assumes. 

He loves the pleasures of out-of-doors life. At golf he has 
made himself dreaded among the gentlemen who drive the 
gutta-percha around Louisville, and around his winter home 
at Naples, Lee County, Florida. He is hardy, and he does 
not neglect any of the splendid athletic opportunities about 
Naples or near his summer home in Massachusetts. And 
wherever his family and his home is, there Bruce Haldeman 
likes best to be. 

He is a tall, well-proportioned man, with steady blue eyes; 
hair that is too gray for his years, but that contrasts pleasantly 
with his youthful features and complexion. His jaw is square, 
but his other features are cleanly chiseled and artistic. He 
wears a short mustache. His mouth is kindly and firm. His 
dress is always quiet and always immaculate. 

''A man whom few know well, but whom all would like to 
know better." That indicates what manner of man is Bruce 
Haldeman, and the standing of The Courier- Journal Company 
indicates what his work has been. In late years, Bruce has 
grown to be much like his father, the grand old man who 
founded the paper. He is a chip off the block; a worthy son 
of a noble sire. 



[i8i] 




WILLIAM BURCH HALDEMAN 

^F YOU are ever fortunate enough to be in 
Louisville on a sunny afternoon, you may 
behold, leaving the Courier- Journal and Times 
Building, Colonel William B. Haldeman. 
It will not be difficult to recognize the cele- 
brated Kentuckian, who may as well, in 
this first paragraph, be liberated from the 
suspicion that his colonelcy is as fictitious as 
those of many of his compatriots. For Colonel Haldeman 
was, for years, commander of the First Kentucky Infantry, and 
he has been seen, horseback, at the head of his boys, with the 
eagles on his shoulders, many times. In brief, his colonelcy 
is as genuine as he is, which is saying about as much for that 
title as can be said. The lack of difficulty in recognizing 
Colonel Haldeman is easily explained, when it is noted that 
he is one of the three most distinguished-looking men in Ken- 
tucky. 

If you should see a stocky old gentleman, elbowing his way 
through Fourth Avenue, glaring fiercely out of his one good 
eye, wearing the silver mustache and goatee of the South, you 
would be in the presence of the first of the three: Marse 
Henry Watterson. If, down near Main Street, a tall and 
graceful old gentleman, with white mustache and imperial, 
twinkling blue eyes, florid complexion, and military stride, 
should swim into your ken, you would behold the second: 
General John B. Castleman. And, near the Courier- Journal 
and Times Building, you might then be fortunate enough to 
see a third and most striking figure. Several inches over six 
feet, as sturdy and alert as a youth; athletic of stride and car- 
riage; ruddy of cheek; wearing the famiHar mustache and 

[182] 



WILLIAM BI RCH IIALDEMAN 

goatee; and, looking from beneath his bushy brows, kindly 
and flashing eyes, there would be Colonel William B. Halde- 
man, who, with Marse Henry and General Castleman, makes 
up a triumvirate of distinguished appearance and achieve- 
ment. 

You would hardly hesitate an instant in selecting Marse 
Henry and General Castleman as Kentuckians; but Colonel 
Haldeman, if you loved Kentucky and her chivalric men, 
you would at once select as illustrating the physical ideal of 
a Kentuckian more completely than any other man of his time. 

So striking in appearance is "the Colonel," as he is known 
to all Louisville, that in writing of him, one is inclined to dwell 
most upon that feature. But a great heart, a poHtical insight 
and genius for leadership that have left an impression upon 
his j:^cncration, and a manner that is the acme of courtesy and 
knightliness, desers'e some chronicHng of their own. 

Colonel Haldeman is the son of Walter N. Haldeman, 
who lived to sec The Courier- Journal and The Times, which 
he created, grow to great afilucnce and power. The Colonel 
adopted his father's profession, and for the latter years of his 
life he has been editor and proprietor of The Times, the after- 
noon paper published by the Haldeman newspaper interests. 
In his youth, after his return from the Confederate Army, 
which he joined as a boy of fourteen, he served on The Courier- 
Journal in the various capacities necessary to make of himself 
a competent newspaper man. During the Franco-Prussian 
War, Colonel Haldeman was manager of the Louisville office 
of the Western Associated Press. To-day, he is an active 
force in journahsm in the United States. 

Much of his interest and much of the appHcation of his 
resourceful mind have been given to politics. In 1896, when 
the Haldeman newspapers, with the brilliant Watterson, their 
spokesman, supported the Palmer and Buckner ticket of the 
Gold Democrats, Colonel Haldeman was a member of the 
national committee of that party. In the regular Democratic 

[183] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

party of Kentucky, he has held several official places also ; but 
his preference has always been, through his individuality and 
his newspaper, rather than through office, to work for the 
Democratic party. In Louisville, and consequently in Ken- 
tucky — for "as Louisville goes, so goes the State" — Colonel 
Haldeman has been something of a Warwick, but he has not 
been the self-seeking King-maker that was the stout Warwick 
of King Edward IV.'s time. Wielding great influence and 
conscious that by his individual stand he shaped the alliances 
of thousands of Kentucky voters. Colonel Haldeman has made 
congressmen, governors, senators, and mayors out of what 
he considered the worthiest material at hand. True to his 
friends in a knightly way that is the essence of fine friendship. 
Colonel Haldeman has always considered the party first. He 
sought always to secure the nomination and election of the 
strongest and worthiest, whatever their personal relations 
with him might have been. But when fortune so plotted 
that his friend was the worthiest and the strongest, no man 
was happier in the success of another than was Colonel Halde- 
man. Never dictatorial, never self-seeking, he has been a 
force for good leadership and clean politics in his range of 
activities. 

To enumerate the needy, the deserving, and the pitiable 
for whom the charity and interest of Colonel Haldeman have 
provided would be a task that would have to open with the 
time he began to toddle, and which would not end even with 
his death. To relate the instances of young men whom he 
has helped and encouraged would be an endless task. For 
Colonel Haldeman is one of those rare men to whom the suc- 
cess and the happiness of others are of primary importance, 
and whose own needs come later on. How many days he 
goes without his meals because his time is too occupied with 
helping a friend to spare the minutes, cannot be reckoned. 
His office, although most of his life has been spent in the 
capacity of a private citizen, is always filled with men and 

[184] 



WILLIAM BURCH HALDEMAN 

women whom he has lifted a way on life's ladder; and the 
beggar may see Colonel Haldeman as quickly as the rich 
man or the chief man of affairs in the town. It is a proper 
commentary upon Colonel Haldeman's life and works in 
Louisville to say that one-fourth the good which he and his 
wife have done and are continually doing will never be known. 
Sometimes a cripple or an aristocrat fallen upon evil days will 
receive a mufiled Christmas present that will procure him 
comforts. Always the long line of "Haldeman pensioners," 
as they may well be known, are remembered and cared for. 
In his home life, the Colonel has found compensation for 
his good deeds "this side of Jordan." His wife, as Miss 
Elizabeth Ofifutt, was one of the most celebrated beauties 
of her time, and the possessor of a character so lofty and a 
sympathy with the quiet philanthropies of her husband so 
complete, as to crown each of his days with faithful under- 
standing. 



[185] 




JOHN MARSHALL HARLAN 

fSSOCIATE JUSTICE of the Supreme Court 
of the United States. The sixth decade of 
the nineteenth century witnessed the death 
of the Whig party and the rise, cuhnination, 
and fall of the Know-Nothing party in Ken- 
tucky, and it also noted the advent on the 
political stage of some brilliant and able 
young public men, such as John G, Cariisle, 
John Young Brown, William C. P. Breckinridge, Thomas M. 
Green, and John M. Harlan. Henry Clay was just dead, and 
John C. Breckinridge had succeeded him as the idol of the 
people of the old commonwealth. The compromise of 1850 
had "settled" the slavery question, and the repeal of the mis- 
named Missouri Compromise reopened that vexed problem 
that ultimately was to be solved at the cannon's mouth. John 
M. Harlan was born in the famous Ashland district, that 
has supplied the Nation with more great names than any 
other constituency of like numerical strength. Needless 
to mention, it was the home of the Clays, the Breckinridges, 
the Marshalls, the Crittendens, to say nothing of the Harlans, 
Letcher, Garrett Davis, William T. Barry, Jesse Bledsoe, the 
Moreheads, and others. Before he was a voter, John M. 
Harlan was a most effective stump speaker, worthy the steel 
of any Kentucky Democrat, even that old lion liimself, Elijah 
Hise. His father was a great lawyer, follower and counselor 
of Henry Clay. Repeatedly he served in Congress, and more 
than once he was Attorney- General of the State. Upon the 
death of Henry Clay, the Ashland district turned Democratic. 
John C. Breckinridge made it so, when consecutively, in 
races that commanded public attention from the Penobscot to 

[186] 



JOHN MARSHALL HARLAN 

the Rio Grande, he defeated for Congress, by the slenderest 
of majorities, first, Leslie Combs, in 185 1, and Robert P. 
Letcher, in 1853. In 1855, the district went Know-Nothing, 
choosing one of the Marshalls when Breckinridge declined 
re-election; but in 1857, James B. Clay, Democrat, son of 
"Harry-of-the-West," defeated Roen Hanson, and in 1859, 
the Democrats nominated William E, Simmes, and John M. 
Harlan, then twenty-six years of age, was the nominee of the 
opposition, made up of irreconcilable old Whigs and the 
remnants of the Know-Nothing party. In those days it was 
imperative that a candidate for public office should meet 
his adversary on the stump, and Harlan and Simmes held 
joint discussions all over the farmers' district, where the god 
of eloquence had pitched his habitat as early as the preceding 
century. At the first meeting, John C. Breckinridge was 
present, and an attentive listener, and after the meeting was 
over, he took the Democratic candidate aside and admonished 
him that if he did not do better "that young fellow will beat 
you." But Simmes was elected by a Ycry narrow majority, 
and the opposition claimed that had fraud been ehminated, 
and mistakes corrected, Harlan would have had a safe 
majority. Be that as it may, it sent Harlan back to the bar, 
and his firm, composed of his father, his brother, and himself, 
was one of the strongest in all the Ohio Valley. 

But the big war now came on to be fought, and Kentucky 
was a seething caldron of vicious poKtical passions. Tens 
of thousands of honest men and pure patriots changed sides 
in a twinkhng, for the heart of Kentucky was Southern and the 
head of Kentucky was Union. Harlan was a Union man, and 
recruited the Tenth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, of which 
he was commissioned colonel. He remained in the army 
until after the bloody battle of Perry ville, when he resigned 
because of the death of his father, whose extensive law prac- 
tice demanded his attention in justice to his numerous clients 
from all sections of the State. In 1863, Harlan was chosen 

[187] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

Attorney- General of the commonwealth, and discharged the 
duties of that office, which his father had filled with such 
distinguished ability, until 1867. He was not yet a Repub- 
lican, nor was he a Democrat ; but in 1868, he came out squarely 
for Grant for President, and stumped the State from "moun- 
tain to purchase," in a canvass rarely equaled. He was just 
entering on his physical prime, thirty-five years of age, and 
perhaps not even Kentucky produced his superior as a stump 
speaker. Three years later, Harlan was the Republican 
candidate for Governor, and spoke daily from the springtime 
till the August election, but he was beaten by Preston H. Leslie. 
Four years after he again entered the fists, and James B. 
McCreary defeated him. 

In 1877, Mr. Harlan was appointed to the Supreme Bench, 
and has served as an associate justice of that august tribunal 
thirty-three years, a term exceeded in length of time by but 
two other men, John Marshall and Stephen J. Field, and his 
friends confidently hope that when he shall finally retire, he 
will have been a member of that court longer than any other 
man of our history. While an amiable man and a defightful 
companion. Justice Harlan is distinctively aggressive, and 
possibly it is true that he has handed down more dissenting 
opinions than any other justice ever known to that bench. 
He is a man of pronounced views and positive convictions, 
for which he would go to the stake. In stature a son of 
Anak, he is a man of commanding presence, symmetrical 
and handsome, and a pure Saxon in type — flaxen hair, blue 
eye, and florid complexion. His passion in relaxation is 
golf, and an anecdote is related of a game when his pastor, 
of the Presbyterian Church, was his adversary. The pastor 
missed a fine stroke, and his countenance discovered his chagrin. 
Harlan remarked to him: "That is the most profane silence 
that ever came under my notice." A happy story is told of 
how Harlan met his old adversary, Simmes, in Washington, 
after the War, broken in fortune because of his service to the 

[188] 



JOHN MARSHALL HARLAN 

Confederacy, and out of the pale of citizenship. Without a 
word, Harlan went to work and secured an act of Congress 
removing his disabilities and clothing him with all the rights 
of any other American citizen. It was a noble act. In that 
great day when Heaven shall hold the universal inquest over 
all mankind, old Kentucky will take John M. Harlan by the 
hand, lead him to that immaculate bar, and say: "This is 
one of my jewels." 



[189] 




JUDSON HARMON 

OVERNOR of Ohio. In the opinion of many 
people, Governor Harmon measures up to the 
full requirements of a Presidential possibility, 
and it is not improbable that the Demo- 
cratic party may honor him by making him 
its candidate in 191 2. Governor Harmon is 
a man of many accomplishments. As a 
lawyer, he ranks among the best in his State. 
In politics, he is comparatively a new quantity, although he 
made his appearance upon the hustings many years ago. It 
was in 1872 that Mr. Harmon showed a disposition to engage 
in a political struggle. It was at the time that Horace Greeley 
became the candidate of the Liberal Republicans and the 
Democratic party for President. Mr. Harmon was brought 
up in the straight Republican faith, but for some reason he 
did not approve of the administration of President Grant, 
whereupon he joined the ranks of the so-called Liberals. He 
was then a struggling lawyer in Cincinnati. Having once 
broken away from the Republican party, it was by easy stages 
of evolution he became a full-fledged, rock-ribbed Democrat. 
So pronounced was he in his doctrines of Democracy, that 
President Cleveland made him his Attorney- General the last 
two years of his second term. In the campaign of 1896, 
when Mr. Bryan was the candidate of the Democratic party, 
Mr. Harmon could not find it possible to reconcile his views 
with the radical position taken by Mr. Bryan, in his criticism 
of President Cleveland's administration; but, in 1900, when 
Mr. Bryan was again the candidate, he gave him loyal and 
effective support. 

In the revolving of the many political wheels in Ohio 

[ 190 ] 



JUDSON HARMON 

politics, Mr. Harmon came to the front as the ideal represent- 
ative of conservative, old-fashioned Democratic policies. 
As an evidence of his strength of character, both as a man and 
as a candidate, he was elected Governor by a splendid majority; 
at the same time President Taft carried the State on the 
Presidential ticket. Governor Harmon is considered one of 
the safe and sane men identified with political affairs of the 
nation. He served for a time as a judge on the State bench 
in Cincinnati. Later, he became receiver for several railways. 
It was but a few years until the properties were again on a 
paying basis, mostly in consequence of the wisdom shown 
by him in the management of the roads. He has never been 
what some people might call a railroad lawyer, although many 
of his clients are the larger corporations. Governor Harmon, 
though probably in the neighborhood of sixty-six years of age, 
is a bit old-fashioned in his daily life. He has a strong attach- 
ment for his friends. One of his most intimate boyhood 
friends was President Taft. Their friendship began when 
they were at school in Cincinnati. Governor Harmon, in 
many respects, is not unlike President Taft, being the possessor 
of an agreeable temper. He may get mad for a little while, 
but it doesn't last long. 

His fondness for fishing has given him the reputation of 
being the most enthusiastic follower of Izaak Walton in the 
State of Ohio. The scenes of his triumphs as an angler are 
usually located on Put-in-Bay Island, about the center of 
Lake Erie, where fishing is always good. He cares little, if 
anytliing, for hunting. If he had been a member of Mr. 
Roosevelt's party in Africa, he would have got lost, and that 
would have been the last of it. He is a careful fisherman. 
He never ventures too far from shore, which would seem to be 
the development of one of his characteristics as applied to 
politics. There is no danger of his ever getting in over his 
head. Physically, Governor Harmon ranks along with the 
good-sized men of the country. He is six feet, one or two 

[191] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

inches tall. His mustache, that being the only hirsute adorn- 
ment on his pleasing face, is gray. What hair he has on his 
head is gray. He was bald when quite a young man. He 
is friendly to the frock-coat and the high silk hat. He may 
believe it is more becoming to the dignity of his office to be 
so dressed. In earlier life, Mr. Harmon wore a full beard 
which was a bit sandy in color, and usually artistically trimmed, 
showing that he was not an infrequent attendant upon his 
barber. 

Mr. Harmon, with an associate attorney, was designated 
by the Government to prosecute the officials of the Santa Fe 
Railway for paying rebates to the Colorado Fuel and Iron 
Company. He was selected at the request of President 
Roosevelt. This was the first prosecution, on these Hues, 
which attracted any particular attention, as it was the most 
flagrant, confessed violation of the Elkins law against rebating. 
Mr. Harmon's prosecution of the case soon developed the 
fact that Paul Morton, then a member of President Roose- 
velt's Cabinet as Secretary of the Navy, having resigned from 
the Vice-Presidency of the Santa Fe Railway to become a mem- 
ber of Mr. Roosevelt's official family, was the real offender. 
When Mr. Harmon made known who would be the principal 
defendant in the case, he was informed by Mr. Roosevelt's 
Attorney- General that his service as public prosecutor in the 
Government's behalf would cease, and it did. 

As Governor of Ohio, he has shown himself a vigorous 
prosecutor of the grafting contingent in and about the State 
house. Personally, he is most companionable. He likes 
sitting in his library with a friend, where all is quiet, and there 
indulge in good, honest, heart-to-heart talks. He expresses 
himself with great force, sometimes a little bit of an innocent 
oath will slip out, for which offense he quickly apologizes, and 
the incident is closed. He is a stickler for promptness. He 
does not believe in putting off till to-morrow what should have 
been accomplished yesterday. In early life he arrayed him- 

[ 192 ] 



JUDSON HARMON 

self against the procrastination exercised by so many judges in 
the administration of public justice. He would like to be able 
to bring about many needed reforms in the courts of his State, 
and has already done much on these lines. His unanimous 
nomination for re-election is strong evidence of his popularity 
with the people of his party. If elected President, he would 
take to the White House a dignity of bearing not unhke that 
of James Buchanan, and the simplicity of Abraham Lincohi. 



'3 [193] 




EDWIN HAWLEY 

^ICE-PRESIDENT of the Toledo, St. Louis 
and Western Railway, Chicago and Alton 
Railway, Chairman of the Board of the 
Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway and 
Iowa Central Railway, also prominently iden- 
tified with the affairs of the Chesapeake and 
Ohio Railway. Thus it will be seen that Mr. 
Hawley has a number of irons in the railway 
fire. Mr. Hawley did not have greatness thrust upon him, 
nor was he born great. Whatever greatness he may have, he 
has achieved. Mr. Hawley is practically a product of the 
West, though the place of his nativity is Chatham, N. Y., 
not far from the Connecticut and Massachusetts lines. 
Chatham appeared to Hawley, even in his youth, as being no 
place for him. He had read some stirring literature concern- 
ing the broad acres of the great though not pathless West. 
He concluded that was the section wherein he might follow 
the advice of Horace Greeley, and grow up. About the first 
time Mr. Hawley appeared above the surface was as the pas- 
senger representative — the General Eastern Agent of the 
Southern Pacific Railway, having his headquarters in New 
York. It was his duty, as a passenger agent, to direct persons 
traveling West not to forget to journey over his road. He, 
no doubt, offered fine inducements in describing to them the 
beauties of the scenery along the line. He might have con- 
veyed, by his pleasing manners, the impression that the entire 
system was equipped with steel rails, the permanent way 
ballasted with stone, and shade trees on both sides. It matters 
not, in this writing, what Mr. Hawley may have done to secure 
business for his road, but it is evident that his official acts 
met with the high approval of his superiors. He might have 

[194] 



EDWIN HAWLEY 

been receiving, probably, $250 a month as salary for his 
services as General Eastern Passenger Agent. It may have 
been more, but it was, no doubt, a trifle less. There was no 
pent-up Utica restraining the future powers of Mr. Hawley. 
He occasionally made excursions into Wall Street from his 
Broadway offices, which were probably located between Canal 
and Chambers Streets. It was in Wall Street that Mr. 
Hawley learned there was money in working railroads — 
far more than having an office in Broadway and working 
jor railways. The vaults in the financial district were fairly 
bulging with money, great volumes of it, belonging to the rail- 
roads and controlled by those who were in possession of the 
roads. It was here that Mr. Hawley received an inspiration. 
He argued that as he knew something about railroading, 
why not own a railroad; or at least, control one or many. He 
saw, at every turn in the Wall Street district, influential men 
who were at the head of gigantic transportation companies 
which were not owned by those who controlled them. He 
believed it was as easy to learn the method of manipulating 
the financial end of a road as it was to carry on a campaign 
of education as to what route people should take when jour- 
neying in the direction of the golden West. His active mind 
absorbed the financial situation, relative to controlling railroad 
property, with unusual quickness. He solved the question at 
once, as to which was the more profitable, being the employe 
of a corporation, or being the boss of the employes. Having 
the money instinct well developed, it can readily be seen why 
he chose the latter. It was at this point in Mr. Hawley's 
career that he leaped to the front. He got in the midst of the 
fight, and he came out victorious, though not without a few 
setbacks at first. He worked hard, and his hours were long. 
He became an industrious student of market conditions — 
stock markets. He had lived long enough in the West, and 
knew Western conditions sufficiently well to know about what 
a Western railroad was capable of earning. By conservative 

[195] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

financial methods, with the occasional spirit of a plunger, he 
made a deep dive into the stock pool, and soon rose to the 
surface, with the collateral of three or four railroads hanging 
about him. True, some of this was watered stock, but that was 
no affair of his, as he had not had any hand in the issuing of it. 
As one may view the railway map of the United States 
at the present time, Mr. Hawley's handiwork appears at fre- 
quent intervals along the line of travel. Since the death of 
Edward H. Harriman, Mr. Hawley seems to be a rising ge- 
nius in the matter of railway ownership, or at least, railway 
control, in some parts of the West. He has been so modest 
all of his Hfe that it was with difficulty that editors of maga- 
zines could secure a photograph of him a year or so ago, when 
he came into the Hmelight as a vital force in a group of rail- 
ways. He is an elusive individual. It is not always easy to 
put your hand on him. It is not meant to convey the impres- 
sion that he does not want to be seen, but the volume of his 
business is so large that he is compelled to keep most of his 
time in his offices, and to be Httle in public. Mr. Hawley can 
be described as being a shrewd, capable financier. He is a 
pleasant-appearing man. His face is smooth, and he shaves 
himself every morning. He is not particularly admired by 
the barbers for this reason, though he does occasionally patron- 
ize them— when he needs a hair-cut. He has some close and 
intimate friends, but they are persons whom he has known a 
long time. He is not given to trusting his confidences to those 
whom he does not know well. He is cautious, always reason- 
able, and generally fair. He has never believed in informing the 
public what he is doing or going to do. He does not aspire to 
be particularly rich. He likes the excitement in being a factor 
in big affairs. He will probably buy five suits of clothes a year. 
Of course, he owns a motor-car, but he frequently rides on the 
trolley. He is extravagant in nothing, except in the scope of 
his ambition. Mr. Hawley's rise to fame and place is a credit 
to the country. There should be more men like liim. 

[196] 




JAMES THOMAS HEFLIN 

Representative in Congress from the 
Fifth Alabama District. A short time ago 
there died, in Alabama, a great man, a physi- 
cian. He was past four score, and of him may 
it be said, in the language of another: "As 
you have come to the store of a picture-dealer 
in your stroll along the street you have paused 
to look in the \\dndow where was exposed 
a picture of a doctor gazing on an expiring child in the humble 
crib, its mother distracted with grief, its father bowed down 
with sorrow. The doctor had made his desperate battle 
against his relentless enemy, Death, but was now down and 
out, and in a little while the soul of his patient had left the 
clay to return whence it came. We envy not the man or 
woman who can look on that picture unmoved. He or she 
is callous to the humanities. It is distinctively the ofhce of 
the doctor to be a good man. That is even more imperative 
than that he should be a skilled leech. His mission is to 
succor the distressed, to assuage pain, to dispel anxiety. 
His smile should be sunshine, his voice cheer. He is there at 
our birth. He watches at our cradle. He ministers to us 
when sick. He admonishes us with soHcitude. He is by us 
in death. He follows us to the grave. What a noble profession 
it is, in town and country. Even the insane genius of Balzac 
became human when it conceived and he wrote the novel 
entitled ' The Country Doctor.' Your doctor, who is also a 
good man, is a blessing to all his neighbors and an ornament 
and glory to the human family." He died this year of 1910, 
just as sumptuous summer was ready to turn to opulent 
autumn. All Alabama mourned. Tom Heflin is his son, 

[197] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

and Tom Heflin would go as far to succor one in trouble as his 
father ever did, or to minister to one in pain. 

Heflin and Clayton and James and Stanley and a news- 
paper man or two are indispensable. There is a fellowship 
among them that binds. But Heflin is the main bracer of 
the circle. He can equal Proctor Knott in the telling of 
an anecdote. He is the hfe and joy of the society. He is 
the public man always, a Southerner from crown to sole, 
warm-hearted and generous as a prince. Tom Heflin has 
made at least two speeches in Congress that captivated the 
House. In one of them there was a poetry and a sentiment 
that caused strong men of the cold, the frigid North, to melt. 
And hence it was no surprise that his district stood by him, 
though he was opposed to the prevailing sentiment on a vital 
question of local moment in his native State. He is not yet 
in middle hfe, but he is ripening for a career in the national 
councils that will be enviable. His public Hfe is just fairly 
begun, and his name will go far the next double decade. 



[198I 




HILARY A. HERBERT 

OR SEVERAL years a Representative in 
Congress from Alabama. Secretary of the 
Navy in Pjesident Cleveland's Cabinet during 
his second term. Mr. Herbert, while always 
a modest and unassuming man, rose to the 
distinction of being one of the most influential 
political leaders the South has,sent to Congress 
since before the Civil War. Mr. Herbert is a 
native of South Carolina, but in early life became a citizen of 
Alabama. He performed his duty as he saw it, to his section 
of the country, during the Civil War, by bearing arms in the 
Confederate Army. He was a dashing, courageous young 
soldier, entering the ranks as a private, but before the close 
of hostihties had become an officer of good rank. It is not, 
however, his career as a soldier that has given him prestige. 
At the termination of the war, he began the practice of law. 
About ten or twelve years afterward, he was elected to Con- 
gress from the Montgomery district. He soon advanced to 
the position of one of the Democratic leaders. For several 
congresses he was chairman of the committee on naval affairs. 
Mr. Herbert was the pioneer, in Congress, in the movement for 
the rehabilitation of the American Navy. He was an able as- 
sistant to William C. Whitney while the latter was Secretary of 
the Navy, who would not have been able to accomplish much 
without the friendly aid of Mr. Herbert. On the floor of the 
House, Mr. Herbert was in the vanguard as an exponent of the 
building up of the Navy, which had so deteriorated that foreign 
nations scarcely regarded it as worthy of consideration. Mr. 
Herbert is entitled to great credit for the part he played in the 

[199] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

early eighties in arousing public sentiment in behalf of building 
fighting-machines worthy of America's importance. President 
Cleveland, in his second term, honored him by making him 
Secretary of the Navy, which was a distinction well earned. 
His administration of the department classed him as a man 
of high executive ability. His long service in the House of 
Representatives, and his identification with the upbuilding 
of the sea power of the Government, had served him well. 
When Mr. Herbert entered public life, the South had not 
yet recovered from the evils of the Civil War, nor the attend- 
ing mismanagement of affairs during the period of recon- 
struction. His fine powers of discernment taught him that the 
South must meet its new conditions in both a progressive and 
intelligent manner. He believed in the South and its traditions. 
The war had changed almost everything. He was not the 
man to lie down and weep over the results of the past. It is 
needless to say they were not pleasing to him, but it was the 
future, and not the past, that was to be worked out. He 
came to Congress as a progressive representative, not to keep 
open the old wounds, but to heal them. He was in no sense 
a trimmer, but a good old-fashioned Democrat, not so blinded 
by party zeal that he was unable to recognize good deeds 
performed by his Northern colleagues, though differing with 
him politically. He was more interested in the agricultural 
and industrial development of the South than in its political 
conditions, knowing that in the latter it was able to take care 
of itself. What the South wanted and needed was more 
development. Mr. Herbert was among the first of the public 
men in the Southern States to preach commercial supremacy 
for his section. The good work he began has redounded to 
his glory, and he is able to see the fruits of his labor and the 
labor of thousands of others who thought and did as he did. 
When retiring from the Secretaryship of the Navy, at the 
expiration of President Cleveland's term, he returned again 
to the practice of law establishing himself in the City of 

[ 200] 



HILARY A. HERBERT 

Washington. Mr. Herbert is a man of fine legal ability, 
and a successful practitioner. 

During his long career in public life, Mr. Herbert has 
apparently never changed in his simple way of coming in 
contact with his friends and acquaintances. He has never 
aspired to be rich, though a good money producer. He was 
brought up in the country districts of South Carolina, and it 
is in the strength and character of the people who populate 
the rural sections that Mr. Herbert beheves lies the future 
perpetuity of the nation. He does not advise young men to 
leave the farm and seek their destiny in cities. He would 
have this condition of affairs reversed. The wealth of a 
nation must come from its soil, and the cultivation of the 
soil produces better citizens. These are pohcies Mr. Herbert 
has long advocated, and in impressing upon the South 
these views, much has been accomplished on lines laid down 
by him when he entered upon a political career. It would 
be difficult to find a more courteous and considerate man 
than Mr. Herbert. He is a prince in politeness and in the 
dissemination of neighborly hospitalities. His hfe has been 
a consistent one, as well as a successful one. He cares little 
for the comings and goings of the fashionable world, yet he 
has lived much among this class in consequence of his official 
position. He is always well, but modestly, attired, preferring 
quiet and subdued colors. He enjoys the quiet of his home 
and having about hjm some of his old-time friends. He 
likes talking about the easy and gentle methods of life among 
the Southern people previous to the Civil War^ He is not one 
who forgets the friends of his youth. Many of his boy- 
hood's associates have remained his steadfast friends and 
admirers from those days to the present. Mr, Herbert be- 
longs to that class of Southern men who stand for everything 
that is uplifting. 



[201] 




WILLIAM B. HIBBS 

CALL an American a self-made man, with 
no qualifications as to the manner of the 
making, is as trite as to say the United States 
is the greatest country' on earth. Ninety per 
cent of all successful Americans are self- 
made men, and the term carries no particular 
distinction until the crucible through which the 
human nugget came is examined, and the heat 
of the testing and refining process is learned. 

Usually, too, the application is made because the man 
to whom the description is applied has accumulated money — 
not always, but usually. We are a new people and our stan- 
dard of measurement is material. Thus, no matter what the 
other qualifications of the eulogy may be, if he have money 
he is accounted a success, and no very close examination is 
made into the methods of acquirement, nor the manner of dis- 
bursement — if, perchance, there is any disbursement, except 
for self-glorification, which, in most instances, there is not. 

There could be neither criticism nor complaint if I should 
say William B. Hibbs is a self-made man, and let it go with that 
generality and such pleasantries as might occur. However, 
that is not my object in setting down here such impressions of 
my friend as I deem advisable. A dozen facts, or a score, 
might be cited to prove the self-made part of it and the excel- 
lence of the job, and the biography would, perhaps, be satis- 
factory. At any rate, the contention would be proved. Still, 
there is more, much more, to Hibbs than the outward and 
visible signs of his success. I think I know Hibbs. I think 
I know his aspirations, his ambitions, his mental processes. 
Indeed, I know I know him. Wherefore, I have no hesitation 

[ 202 ] 



WILLIAM B. HIBBS 

in saying I consider him one of the most remarkable, the most 
lovable, the truest-blue chaps I have ever met in an experience 
that has covered most of the world and in a life that has been 
devoted, mainly, to meeting men and assaying them from 
such standards as I have set. 

The mere establishment of a business, the mere accumula- 
tion of money, the mere forging to the front mean nothing, 
unless the qualities that make for the advancement are analyzed. 
Many a man has accumulated a fortune by usury, many 
another by glossed-over crime, many another by methods that 
will not bear scrutiny, and all, if they keep out of jail, and 
started with small beginnings, arc hailed as self-made men. 
When you bring it down to a final determination it is neces- 
sary to draw a hne and put on one side all those who have suc- 
ceeded in one way and on the other those who have succeeded 
in another. There are only two ways. On one side we 
find a vast crowd of successful men wc neither respect nor 
admire, although we concede their abilities, their acumen, 
their accomplishments. On the other side we find the few 
who have won not because they are crafty, not because they 
are hard, not because they are quick to take advantage of 
weakness or worse — men who have won because they are 
intrinsically men, and men in all the term implies. 

Now, money means nothing, per se, nor the possession of it. 
Judging from the people who have the most of it, money must 
be the easiest thing in the world to get. Still, we measure men 
by money, and will continue to do so, I suppose, to the end of 
time. Appraising Hibbs by the dollar standard, it would be 
well within the bounds to call him remarkably successful. 
He has a great business, owns a great building, is surrounded 
with luxuries and comforts, has everything he can possibly 
want, and he wrought it all with his owm hands and his own 
brains, from a most meager start, so far as money is concerned. 

So much for that. I purpose to write a few words about 
the man side of Hibbs, about those qualities of mind and heart 

[203] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

that enabled this newsboy on the streets of Washington to 
become one of the largest factors in the financial and business 
life of Washington, to establish himself in a commanding 
position, not only at the Capital, but also in the great financial 
centers of New York, to win and hold scores of devoted friends, 
and, above all, to display, in times of stress, an unflinching and 
buoyant courage in the face of any and every adversity, a cour- 
age that marked him as a voyager unafraid, a gallant contender 
in the strife of life. 

He was a newsboy. His father was a sailor, who went as 
a cabin boy when Commodore Perry first visited Japan and 
opened the ports of that marvelous country. Presently, 
young Hibbs was placed in a broker's ofhce as ofhce boy. He 
was quick, alert, honest. He had a genius for finance. It is 
not necessary to trace his upcoming by successive steps. All 
that need be done is to mention the name of W. B. Hibbs and 
Company, and point out its magnificent home in the Hibbs 
Building. It is all his. He built it, built it through years 
of storm and stress, through adversity that would have crushed 
a less buoyant and courageous spirit, through trials and tribu- 
lations, through panics, flurries, prostrations, and hard times. 
There it is, speaking for itself, and Hibbs, not much more than 
forty-five now, is the man who made it. 

The two greatest human attributes are truth and courage. 
After these come kindliness, generosity, helpfulness, consider- 
ation, courtesy. Nothing much else matters. Now, then, 
let me say for Hibbs that he has courage in as marked a degree 
as any man I ever met, the kind of courage that meets adver- 
sity with a laugh and welcomes trouble with a smile, but with 
a heart as stout as any and a spirit undaunted and unafraid. 
He has had a hard fight, but he is now as joyous and unaffected 
as a boy, and he always has been. Also, he looks you in the 
eye and tells you the truth. There you have him. 

Moreover, he is generous — absurdly so — and loyal, tender, 
and tolerant to the failings of his friends and enthusiastic about 

[204] 



WILLIAM B. HIBBS 

their qualities, charitable, considers his income only as some- 
thing that may be applied to the happiness of his family and 
those he holds in high regard, ardent in his likes and dislikes, 
willing to go anywhere or do anything for a friend, and always 
ready to fight an enemy, essentially and lovably human. 
He is discreet — think how discreet the leading broker of the 
Capital of the Nation must be — the trusted adviser of many 
of the big men of the country, having a wide knowledge of 
finance in all its phases, always willing to take a chance, meet- 
ing a loss with a wave of the hand and a success without boast- 
ing or self-glorification; modest, companionable, true blue. 

He has made a big place for himself in the business of 
Washington and the business of the nation in his forty-odd 
years, and they all recognize him as the successful, alert, 
capable man of affairs. No man, in these iron days, can wear 
his heart on his sleeve, but there are a few — I am proud to 
say I am one of the number — who know the other side of 
Hibbs, the man side, the real side; know his charities, his bene- 
factions, his kindness, his tolerance, his generosity, his im- 
mense capabilities for friendship and companionship of the 
kind that counts, who are buoyed by his buoyancy, who are 
held in check by his wise advice, who live joyous moments 
with him, who recognize him as genuine — no counterfeit — 
substantial as a fresh-minted double-eagle. 

There are no flub-dub, frills, or furbelows about Hibbs. 
He has plenty of faults, mostly temperamental, but he is a man 
— a real one — and real men are not so plentiful, either in this 
country or elsewhere, that an opportunity to celebrate one 
can be overlooked. Hence, Hibbs — ^here. 



[205I 




JAMES J. HILL 

President and builder of the Great Northern 
Railroad, extending from Duluth to Seattle. 
Mr. Hill can well wear the title of being a real 
empire builder. The middle "J" in Mr. 
Hill's name stands for Jerome. Few people 
j' would know him as James Jerome Hill; 
everybody knows, or knows of, him as James 
J. Hill, but from the western extremity of 
Lake Superior to the Puget Sound country, most people call 
him "Jim" Hill, signifying a kind of affection for the grand 
old man. If personal appearances counted for much in Mr. 
Hill's case, he might be mistaken for a poet, or probably one 
of the greatest musicians of his time — all in consequence of his 
dreamy eyes and long hair. He possesses neither of these 
qualities. If his life depended on it, he could not write four 
Hnes of poetry, nor is it believed that, in a musical sense, he 
could beat a drum with anything like musical rhythm. Mr. 
Hill was born north of the American frontier — a native of 
Guelph, in the Province of Ontario, not far from Toronto. 
Drifting West in the early sixties, he made his permanent 
stopping-point at St. Paul, then but little more than a trading 
post, although the capital of Minnesota. Mr. Hill was not 
granted the opportunity of an advanced education. He had 
only what the public schools offered at that time. He became 
a freight handler on the wharves on the Mississippi River, at 
St. Paul, which was fast becoming a commercial center of 
some importance. His advancement from this humble position 
to the presidency of the old St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba 
Railroad seemed so quick that it was difficult to comprehend 
the mental output he had shown in so short a time. While 

[206] 



JAMES J. HILL 

becoming the head of this railway corporation, he developed 
into one of the most progressive generals of finance and indus- 
try that the Northwest has known, and this position he has 
held for a quarter of a century, and he holds it at the 
present time. He extended the mileage of his railway from 
Duluth to Seattle, overcoming the almost insurmountable 
obstacles of the Rocky and Cascade mountains. He built 
thousands of miles of steel highway without the aid of a single 
acre of land grant from the United States Government, as was 
given all other transcontinental lines. This was an extension 
of the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba system, but as it 
advanced in power and mileage he gave it the name of the 
Great Northern, meaning to convey the idea that it is the 
farthest north transcontinental line in the United States, 
which it is. Mr. Hill's association with railroads hkewise 
embraces his connection with the Northern Pacific, which he 
attempted to consolidate with his Great Northern line, and 
also with the Burlington system. The Government, however, 
stepped in and dissolved this consolidation. 

Mr. Hill is regarded by the industrial and financial world 
of the country as possessing a marvelous fund of information 
upon all subjects affecting the material conditions of the 
countr}'. Sometimes he has grown pessimistic, but upon 
rare occasions. Generally, he is optimistic, buoyant in his 
influences. Few men have given more study to the science 
of transportation and its relations to the general public than 
has Air. Hill. He is not a scientific railroad man, but it can 
be said of him that the conclusions at which he arrives are 
invariably the result of exercising good, hard common sense. 
Mr. Hill is not without his political influence, not alone in 
his section of the countr}^, but in other sections as well. For 
many years he was considered one of the rock-ribbed Demo- 
crats of the Golden Northwest. During Mr. Cleveland's 
administrations, he was a frequent visitor at the White House. 
Mr. Hill could not yield to the demand for the free and unlim- 

[207] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

ited coinage of silver; therefore, in 1896, he broke away from 
his party affiliations, supporting Mr. McRinley instead of Mr. 
Bryan. He has expressed himself as not being friendly to the 
policies of President Roosevelt. The political caperings of 
President Roosevelt plunged Mr. Hill into the list of alarmists. 
Mr. Hill's name among the people of the Northwest is 
imperishable. Although he has done much for his section of 
the country, that same section has done much for him. He is 
reputed to be the wealthiest man in the State of Minnesota, 
if not in all of that country extending from St. Paul to the 
Pacific Ocean. When measured by dollars, it runs into the 
millions. Mr. Hill is emphatically a self-made man. His 
residence in St. Paul, overlooking the picturesque valley of 
the Mississippi, is filled with many of the choicest collections 
and rare objects of art that could be picked up throughout 
the world. The museums of Europe, China, Japan, and 
Korea have been searched with great diligence by Mr. Hill 
and the members of his family. Mr. Hill is a man who lives 
much to himself. He has few companions and no intimates. 
It is not every one who can see him when they call at his 
offices. Their business must be of the most imperative 
character, otherwise they must transact their affairs vdth the 
head of the necessary department. It is not that he does not 
want to be cordial, but he believes in the conservation of time. 
When at the height of his business career, he worked about 
fifteen hours every day. He has a great liking for highly bred 
horses, not of the running kind, but more of the trotting. 
It fills him v^th sadness to see so many young men leaving the 
farms and going to the cities. He would reverse all this; in 
fact, would send the young men from the cities to the farms. 
He is the only American operating a fleet of ships across the 
Pacific Ocean. 



[208] 



i 




FRANK H. HITCHCOCK 

^HEN George B. Cortelyou was secretary to 
President McKinley, he attended, one even- 
ing, the graduating exercises of the law school 
of George Washington University. Among 
the graduates he noticed a tall, broad-shoul- 
dered, light-haired young man, who received 
more applause when he walked up the aisle 
to get his diploma than had any other mem- 
ber of his class. 

Cortelyou made a few inquiries. He learned that the 
young man's name was Frank Hitchcock, and that he was a 
clerk in the Department of Agriculture. Also, he was the 
best student and the most popular man in the George Wash- 
ington law school. The secretary to the President knew that 
in a short while he would have use for able young men. He 
marked Hitchcock for his own. 

And this accidental meeting of Hitchcock and Cortelyou, 
two men whose careers in the Government service are strik- 
ingly similar, meant much for Hitchcock. Of course, no man 
of the character and ability of Hitchcock can be kept back. 
His native force and talents will bring him inevitably to the 
front rank of any caHing he happens to choose. Yet Hitch- 
cock owes a great deal to Cortelyou. And he never loses an 
opportunity to say so. 

Frank Harris Hitchcock is, to-day, the greatest living 
example of what a man of ability can accomplish in the Govern- 
ment service. Seventeen years after he entered the Govern- 
ment service, Hitchcock was a full-fledged Cabinet officer. 
Seventeen years is not such a long time to serve an apprentice- 
ship for an office hundreds of hard-headed American business 
^4 [ 209 ] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

men would give half a million dollars to hold. It may be said 
that Hitchcock is an exception to the rule. He is. Also, he 
is an exceptional man in other respects. 

The success of a man usually is attributable to one or two 
characteristics in his make-up which stand out prominently. 
In this respect Hitchcock follows the rule. The two qualities 
upon which his success is based are unlimited capacity for 
sustained labor and a genius for organization, particularly 
political organization. As Hitchcock organizes a Government 
bureau, as he would organize a business office, so he organizes 
his forces for a political campaign. He lays out a course of 
action, and never swerves from it. And, up to date, he has 
usually won out. 

Frank Harris Hitchcock was born in Amherst, Ohio, where 
his father was pastor of a church, in 1867. His people were 
all from Massachusetts, and he returned there when a small 
child. Brought up in Boston, he attended the schools of that 
city, and, in due time, entered Harvard University, from 
which he was graduated in 1891. 

A year or so later he came to Washington to look around. 
A relative in the Treasury Department procured for him a 
position in the office of the supervising architect of the Treasury. 
At that time — in 1893 — the present post-office building was in 
course of construction, under the direction of the supervising 
architect. Young Hitchcock was given a clerical position in 
connection with the post-office construction work. 

There is another curious coincidence. Hitchcock's first 
work for the Government had to do with the erection of the 
building in which he sat, fourteen years later, as assistant 
postmaster general, and from which, seventeen years later, 
he directed the postal affairs of the country. 

While doing this work, Hitchcock stood the civil service 
examination and procured a permanent position in the bio- 
logical bureau of the Department of Agriculture. This came 
to him because, when at college, he gave a great deal of atten- 

[210] 



FRANK H. HITCHCOCK 

tion to biology, which is still one of his hobbies. To this day 
he has a surprisingly intimate knowledge of birds, and would 
rather loaf through the woods, studying them, than do any- 
thing else. 

But in the Department of Agriculture the Hitchcock 
capacity for organization began to crop out. He dropped 
biology and organized the bureau of foreign trade relations. 
In this connection, he traveled all over Europe, going as far 
east as Russia. He became an authority on foreign commerce. 
His opinion was valued so highly that he was frequently called 
into consultation as an expert by the House Committee on 
Rivers and Harbors when that body was dealing with ques- 
tions affecting harbors and shipping questions generally. 

This was where Hitchcock was working in 1903, when 
Congress passed the bill creating the Department of Commerce 
and Labor. Cortelyou was appointed by President Roosevelt 
the first Secretary of the new department. Since meeting 
Hitchcock, Cortelyou had kept his eye on the young man. 
At the first Cabinet meeting he attended he called Secretary 

Wilson aside. 

"You have a young man in your department I want," said 
the new Secretary of Commerce and Labor to the Secretary 
of Agriculture. "His name is Hitchcock. I have watched 
him, and I want him to be chief clerk of my department, so he 
can help me organize it." 

"I hate to part with Hitchcock," Secretary Wilson said, 
"but I won't stand in his way. You may have him." 

So Hitchcock took hold with Cortelyou, and became his 
closest adviser, his main dependence. The two men are much 
ahke in nature— careful, thoughtful, and reserved. Neither 
has ever had more work than he could stand up under. 

The most important task Cortelyou assigned to Hitchcock, 
while the two were building up the Department of Commerce 
and Labor, was the drawing up of regulations for the Alaskan 
fur-seal traffic. It is not generally known, but Hitchcock laid 

[211] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

down the policy afterward pursued by the Department of 
State respecting this question. This work Hitchcock did at 
night, his days being taken up with organization work. 

Early in the year 1904 Theodore Roosevelt threw one of 
liis many political bombs by telling the members of the Repub- 
lican National Committee that he wanted George B. Cortelyou 
to manage his campaign for the Presidency against Judge 
Alton B. Parker. This was rank heresy, but Roosevelt carried 
it through and, at the proper time, the committee met and 
solemnly, but without any enthusiasm whatever, named Cor- 
telyou chairman. 

Late in the summer Cortelyou packed his grip, quit the 
Department of Commerce and Labor, and went from Wash- 
ington to New York. He ensconced himself in the Metropol- 
itan Life Building, where the Republican headquarters was. 
But, most important of all, he took Hitchcock with him. He 
made him assistant chairman, or vice-chairman. 

Whereat there was another loud wail from the "old line" 
politicians. They called Cortelyou the "high-class stenog- 
rapher," and Hitchcock the "human card index." Why 
should they be put to run a national campaign? What did 
these two amateurs, who had always held Government jobs, 
know about "practical politics"? These, and innumerable 
questions of like character, were hurled about. Roosevelt did 
not bother to answer them, and Cortelyou and Hitchcock 
were too busy. 

That Cortelyou and Hitchcock ran a "card index" cam- 
paign cannot be denied. But when the time came to figure 
out the possibilities, their prognostications were marvelously 
accurate. As the campaign progressed, Roosevelt saw that 
the two "department clerks" were masters of a complete 
system, whereby they knew all the time just what was going 
on everywhere. 

Their work earned for Cortelyou the ofhce of Postmaster- 
General, and for Hitchcock that of First Assistant Post- 

[212] 



FRANK H. HITCHCOCK 

master- General. The next four years were spent in reorganiz- 
ing the postal service. Then came the question of the successor 
to Roosevelt. Cortelyou, who had been promoted to be 
Secretary of the Treasury-, got the Presidential bee. That 
caused a split between him and Roosevelt. 

In the winter of 1908 Roosevelt came out for Taft. Then 
he told Taft he ought to get to work at once garnering delegates 
to the National Convention. He advised him to get Hitch- 
cock to handle the job. Taft followed Roosevelt's advice. 
Hitchcock resigned from the Post-ofhce Department, and 
took hold. His territory was the East and the South. Arthur 
I. Vorys, one of Charles P. Taft's Ohio friends, took charge 
of Ohio and the West. But before the campaign for dele- 
gates went far, Hitchcock was handling the whole job. 

A month before the convention he announced his figures. 
They were correct, except that Taft got one more vote in the 
convention than Hitchcock had figured on. His card-index 
system, which was the best name his critics could then give 
for the results of his genius for organization, was in good 
working order. 

Then came Chicago, with the great Roosevelt demon- 
stration on the floor of the convention, stirred up by Taft's 
enemies, mostly disappointed "reactionaries," in the hope 
of causing a stampede. Hitchcock stood on the main floor 
of the Coliseum that hot afternoon, watched the Roosevelt 
demonstration, and smiled. Somebody asked him what he 
thought of it. 

"Great!" he replied. "Wonderful enthusiasm. Better 
let 'em have it now than later." 

Taft was nominated. The time had come to choose the 
chairman of the National Committee, the man to manage the 
campaign. Then the flood gates of the opposition to Hitch- 
cock were turned loose. Never was a man more bitterly 
assailed. By using the "strong arm" in the contests to seat 
delegates, Hitchcock earned a new title. He was no longer 

[213] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

"Card Index Hitchcock." He was "Steam Roller Hitch- 
cock." The steam-roller tactics employed by Hitchcock in 
getting Taft delegates seated were employed under specific 
directions from Roosevelt and Taft, who had talked the 
matter over with Hitchcock before he left Washington for 
Chicago. 

But the Ohio Republicans were wrathy. They wanted 
Vorys for the chairmanship. He was the man slated for all 
the honors in the first instance. Around the Ohioans rallied 
many of those who had supported Knox, Fairbanks, and 
Cannon for the nomination. Meetings were held in Cin- 
cinnati, New York, Chicago, and Indianapolis. All were 
anti-Hitchcock meetings. 

William Howard Taft was a bit uncertain for a while. 
Roosevelt stood by Hitchcock and urged him for the place. 
But better still, Hitchcock had powerful friends in the National 
Committee. The committee met to select a chairman, and 
one of the bitterest wrangles in political history marked that 
meeting. But Hitchcock won out. 

Again he was back in New York; but this time he was 
chairman and not vice-chairman. He was the whole show. 
Many said Roosevelt was the real chairman, and that Hitch- 
cock was again a clerk. As a matter of fact, Hitchcock 
planned and executed the whole campaign. He ran it him- 
self from start to finish. He offended many of the old regulars. 
They sent emissaries to him to tell him how to do things. 
He listened to the emissaries politely, and continued to do as 
he pleased. Above all, he refused to talk or to make pre- 
dictions. 

Early in October Bryan was going strong. He invaded 
the "enemy's country," amid apparently wild enthusiasm. 
Many Republicans grew uneasy. Up to that time Hitchcock 
had apparently made no strenuous move. But he was apply- 
ing his card-index system thoroughly. Every week he jumped 
from New York to Chicago, and talked with his representa- 

[214] 



FRANK H. HITCHCOCK 

tives there. They were men he could trust to do what he told 
them. He knew just what was going on. He was quietly 
placing campaign funds where they would do the most good. 
Still Br>'an appeared to be gaining strength. Still Hitch- 
cock refused to cut loose. Everybody but Hitchcock's inti- 
mate associates was worried. 

In his younger days, Hitchcock was a fine boxer. In 
fact, he is said to be the best amateur heavyweight that ever 
came out of Boston. He applied some of his fighting knowl- 
edge to the Taft campaign. To an intimate friend he said, 
during those uncertain days: 

"It is always a good thing to let a man fight himself out 
if he will. ISlr. Br>'an is doing that now. He will have 
reached the climax of his campaign by October lo. He 
will have expended all his campaign material. He will have 
spoken on evcr>' possible topic. He will have nothing left 
for the final spurt. Then we will go after him." 

This had been Hitchcock's plan all along. By the time 
Br>'an had exhausted himself, the Hitchcock machine was in 
perfect working order, well oiled, and ready to be set in motion. 
Hitchcock touched the spring. A flood of literature poured 
forth. Taft went on his famous tour. Good speakers sprang 
up all over the country. Toward the first of November the 
Taft strength began to show, and in the last stage of the cam- 
paign the inevitable result could easily be foreseen. 

And it was largely due to Hitchcock's system that the 
results were obtained. He made enemies by refusing to 
tattle his plans to the various high muck-a-mucks of the party, 
whose sole object was to get well seated in the band-wagon, 
and by picking certain men for certain purposes. Those 
enemies will hang on his trail for a long time. But he did 
what he set out to do, and cut one more notch of achievement 
in the handle of his gun. 

What Hitchcock's future is, no one knows. There are 
rumors that he wants to come to the Senate from Arizona. 

[215] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

Some of his friends hold him up as Presidential timber. Some 
say he will soon retire from public life and go into business. 
He has had innumerable handsome offers in that direction. 
But he never speaks much of the future. 

When the Congressional campaign of 1910 began, Chair- 
man McKinley, of the Republican Congressional Conamittee, 
begged Hitchcock to help him. 

"I think I will keep out of that fight," Hitchcock said to a 
friend. "I have had enough of politics for a while. It looks 
to me as if I would better give my attention to postal affairs. 
I want to put the Post-ofhce Department on a paying basis. 
It never has been, but I think I can do it." 

So far as anybody really knows, this is Hitchcock's only 
ambition at present. 



[216I 




RICHMOND PEARSON HOBSON 

■EPRESENTATIVE in Congress from Ala- 
bama. Mr. Hobson's entrance into the lime- 
light of publicity came at a time when the 
United States was not on speaking terms 
with the Kingdom of Spain. At that time, 
he was in the service of his country, as a heu- 
tenant in the Navy. Lieutenant Hobson, 
as he was then known, was the dashing young 
officer who volunteered to sink the collier Merrimack at the 
entrance of Santiago Harbor, with the hope of blocking the 
channel, and preventing the escape of Admiral Cervera, whose 
fleet of Spanish ships had been bottled up by Admiral Schley. 
It was a heroic undertaking, done in the presence of the sharp- 
shooters from Morro Castle. This exploit on the part of 
young Hobson provides interesting pages in the history of the 
Spanish-American War, therefore it need not be mentioned 
here at any particular length. It was enough, however, to 
establish the fact in the minds of the people that he was made 
of the kind of stuff that creates successful fighters. At that 
time. Lieutenant Hobson was a handsome, young, unmarried 
man. Ever}^body knows the enthusiasm displayed by young 
girls in bestowing their admiration upon heroes. Lieutenant 
Hobson was not only a great hero in their eyes, but he was a 
handsome, dashing one. He possessed good looks, as well 
as having plenty of courage. Many of them seemed im- 
pressed with the belief that the best way to make known their 
appreciation of his services to their country was not only to 
say so in his presence, but to take advantage of his innocence 
and modesty by kissing him. A bevy of girls is not unhke a 
flock of sheep. One takes the initiative, others follow. When 

[217] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

one pretty girl in New York impressed upon his lips that 
unfailing signal of appreciation of his heroism, every other 
pretty girl in the United States wanted to do the same thing; 
and what was Lieutenant Hobson to do ? Being a Southerner 
by birth, he was by nature polite— too polite, by far, to refuse a 
pretty girl anything. It became a mania upon the part of 
thousands of pretty girls to see and know Lieutenant Hobson. 
The country at large wanted to hear him tell the story of his 
undertaking in his own way, and with his own Hps, just as 
they wanted to hear Admiral Dewey and Admiral Schley 
relate their experiences. 

Lieutenant Hobson received for his heroism the plaudits of 
his countrymen in a manner that was undoubtedly deserving. 
His career in the Navy was a brilliant one. From the begin- 
ning he was one of the leaders in his classes at the Naval 
Academy, as he was later when given an opportunity at 
displaying his courage. As a naval officer. Lieutenant Hobson 
did things. He had adopted the science of constructing ships 
in the early part of his naval education. He was assigned 
later to this branch of the service. It was Lieutenant Hobson 
whose services were in demand by the Government when it 
was decided to raise the Spanish ships which had been sunk 
and beached by Admiral Schley. This he did, and he did it 
well. He first undertook the raising of the Maria Teresa, 
following with others. Lieutenant Hobson was never par- 
ticularly strong physically. A year or so after the war, his 
eyes gave him trouble, which necessitated his retiring from 
active service. He concluded to adopt a political career. He 
stood for a nomination to Congress, but was defeated. Two 
years later he again came before his party, and he was re- 
warded for his efforts. He was elected, and, during the time 
he has been a representative in Congress, he has been classed 
among the leaders. He is the most prominent Democratic 
member of the Naval Affairs Committee, and it speaks well for 
the future of the American Navy that so capable a man as 

[2i8l 



RICHMOND PEARSON HOBSON 

Mr. Hobson should be one of those in authority at the primary 
stage of constructing machines of naval warfare. 

Mr. Hobson, he does not desire to be called Lieutenant now, 
is a young man of good attainments. He comes from one of 
the leading families of Alabama, and counts as his kinsfolks 
many of the more prominent families of other Southern States. 
Mr. Hobson is ever on the lookout for war, although not exactly 
a war lord. He has given much time to the study of inter- 
national problems, and is sincere in his belief that it is not 
going to be a great many years until there is a clash of arms 
between the United States and Japan. If he reads correctly 
the signs of the times, and he insists that he does, it will be 
a conflict that may, before it is concluded, be far-reaching in 
its scope. He is a forceful speaker, and a ready debater. He 
doesn't speak very often in the House of Representatives, 
but when he does, it is usually to good purpose. Mr. Hobson 
is young in years, for one who has had so much experience. 
He has a smooth-shaven face, and he Hkewise has apparently a 
smooth-shaven head — being quite bald — evidently a family 
characteristic on the male side of his house. He is pleasing 
in conversation. There are many things he prefers discussing 
to pohtics, warfare, or implements of war. He knows a lot 
about books. He has a splendid knowledge of the history of 
his own country. He has at his tongue's end every drama- 
tic incident, from the beginning of the formation of the 
colonies down to the contest between the plain people 
and the controllers of aggregated wealth. It has often been 
remarked about him that he wears better clothes and more 
clothes than any other man on the Democratic side of the 
House. His taste for dress is a bit extravagant in the selec- 
tion of colors, particularly in neck ties, although, upon the 
whole, Mr. Hobson passes for a moderately dressed man 
wherever seen. He is not a particularly good story-teller, but 
there is no better listener to a good one. He has a merry, 
cheerful, infectious laugh. 

[219] 




CLARK E. HOWELL 

DITOR of the Atlanta Constitution. Mr. 
Howell is a product of the so-called New 
South. He is the beneficiary of two illus- 
trious Georgians who preceded him, his 
father, Evan P. Howell, and Henry W. Grady. 
These two men gave The Constitution news- 
paper a reputation beyond the confines of the 
Southern tier of States. Young Howell has 
hewn to the line marked out by his predecessors. Mr. Howell 
is a good-looking man, rather small in stature. He has that 
bearing so conspicuous with Southern gentlemen, indicating 
a hospitality that is always charming. He is an aggressive 
editor, a good, strong writer, who believes more in the material 
development of the South than in clinging to the political 
lines established by those of three or four generations ago. 
He is a force in the affairs of Georgia. He has made his paper 
popular, as well as enterprising. He has enlarged its scope 
of usefulness since becoming its directing power, though when 
he assumed the editorial reins The Constitution was one of the 
leading papers in the South. Mr. Howell, however, is fond 
of the game of politics, deriving much entertainment from par- 
ticipating therein. At times, he is intensely partisan. If he 
chance to be the personal friend of a man of the opposite 
party, he is inclined to be more lenient with him. He has had 
his share of political experience in his State, for one of his 
years. He served with distinction as a member of the Georgia 
legislature, one time being speaker of the house of repre- 
sentatives. He met his Waterloo, however, in his candidacy 
for Governor against Hoke Smith. There was more than a 
political contest between the two men at this time. It was, 
seemingly, more personal than otherwise. 

[ 220 ] 



CLARK E. HOWELL 

The Howells, father and son, were never admirers of Mr. 
Cleveland's Secretary' of the Interior in his last term. It is 
needless to say that that gentleman was not without strong 
opinions of his political rivals. The controversy between Mr. 
Smith and the Howells resulted in a party faction in the State, 
of which there are remnants remaining to this day. Mr. 
Howell is not the man to spend all of his time in and about 
Atlanta. He believes in absorbing what other parts of the 
country are doing. Therefore, he travels much in all sections. 
If, by any accident or cause, Mr. Howell should be com- 
pelled to live in any other part of the United States, nothing 
could possibly arise that would change his loyalty to the South. 
He believes in its past, its traditions, and in the greatness of its 
future. Were he to live to be one hundred years old, he would 
never be able to conceal the fact that he was a Southerner. 
He has the gentleness of speech, so characteristic of the people 
of the South. He has the Southern mannerisms, so prom- 
inently developed in the educated gentleman of his section. 
He has taken the lead in a number of social reforms which 
have sprung up in the South in the last decade, but he has 
usually been conservative. In some instances, however, he 
has exhibited the fanatic germ, but it was stamped out before 
any damage was done. 

He inherited many of the strong qualities of his distin- 
guished father, who, in his time, was one of the leading mold- 
ers of public thought in Georgia, for twenty-five years following 
the Civil War. He was in the midst of the battle incident to 
reconstruction. The scenes and hardships of those days were 
transmitted from father to son. Whatever cause there was for 
bitterness in the past, young Mr. Howell has, apparently, 
cast it from his memory. He has long since adopted the 
policy of recognizing the past as a mere incident, and that 
it is the duty of everybody to look to the future. Mr. Howell 
is a good "mixer," and possesses elements of popularity with 
the people. He is a good hand-shaker, and is a kind of cy- 

[221] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

clone when turned loose as a stump orator. He commands 
respect from those who hear him. What he has to say, he says 
in so forcible a manner that it cannot be misunderstood. He 
delivers his political blows straight from the shoulder. He 
fights fair and hard. He is ever amenable to compromise, 
providing compromise carries with it dignity and honor. 
While Georgia is classified among the prohibition States of 
the Union, Mr. Howell has not lessened his enthusiasm in 
directing his gardener to be diligent in the cultivation of the 
"mint bed" to the highest possible standard of yield and 
perfection. It is in entertaining his friends that Mr. Howell 
seems to get the most enjoyment out of life. He is a loyal 
lover of his home, and inside it are dispensed what may well 
be termed royal favors of true Southern hospitality in its 
simplest and most enduring form. As an editor he has never 
shown any unusual qualities in introducing original ideas. 
He has little, if any, creative powers along this line. He is 
willing to advance from day to day in the future, as the paper 
has progressed in the past — on conservative lines. 

As above stated, Mr. Howell is not large in stature, prob- 
ably five feet nine inches in height. He has a boyish-looking 
face, adorned by a light-brown mustache. He "roaches" 
his hair in front, much after the style prevailing in his boyhood 
days. Mr. Howell did not appear upon the scene of earthly 
action until about the time of the Civil War, consequently he 
is yet young. He is rather fond of conspicuous dressing, par- 
ticularly waistcoats of more than one color. His friends say 
he is not wise in the selection of his hats, as he often appears 
beneath a tile that would not be regarded as becoming in the 
opinion of those who consider themselves experts in the 
world of fashion. In the matter of headgear, he is the William 
M. Evarts of the South. He is an all-around ideal represent- 
ative of the best and most progressive elements of his State. 
His loyalty to the Georgia watermelon is as pure and strong 
as is his religion. 

[ 222 ] 




STILSON HUTCHINS 

*R. HUTCHINS embodies in progress and 
industry the modem, up-to-date, thoroughly 
developed man of affairs. He is a native of 
New Hampshire, and possesses every natural 
trait so conspicuously developed in people 
from that section for making things move. 
Mr. Hutchins is essentially a gentleman of 
high commercial instincts. But it is not alone 
on these lines that he has made his mark in the world. When 
less than twenty years of age, he went from New Hampshire 
to the fertile valley of the Mississippi, locating at Des Moines, 
Iowa. Later, at Dubuque, he owned and published the 
strongest Democratic paper that had ever been issued in that 
State. He made his impress upon affairs from the very begin- 
ning. In 1866, he moved to St. Louis, where he established 
the St. Louis Times. He made it the best newspaper St. 
Louis had ever had. He engaged the services of some well- 
known writers and some who have since become famous. 
Among them were Eugene Field, Richard H. Sylvester, John 
N. Edwards, Stanley Huntly, Stanley Waterloo, and O. O. 
Stealey. George Alfred Townsend, then fresh from his 
triumphs as a war correspondent, was also on the staff. Mr. 
Hutchins is a man of fine literary accomplishments, and is one 
of the most forceful, as well as one of the most graceful, writers 
in the United States. He is a college graduate and a man 
of high polish. From St. Louis he went to Washington, 
where, in 1877, he established the Washington Post. There 
he surrounded himself with some of the most brilliant minds 
then identified with newspaper work, among them the late 
Colonel John A. Cockerill, Augustus C. Buell, and Joseph 

[223] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

Pulitzer. Mr. Hutchins made The Post the most influential 
paper ever printed in Washington, and sold it in 1889 for a 
large sum of money. He was quick to see the commercial 
value of the new invention, the Mergenthaler linotype 
machine, which at that time was new and untried. Many 
of the foremost publishers in the United States were skeptical, 
but Mr. Hutchins, with his shrewd New England mind, saw 
otherwise. He was the first to introduce them in London, 
the London Times being the third paper in the world to adopt 
them. The first two were the Louisville Courier- Journal 
and the New York Tribune. In 1896, Mr. Hutchins bought 
the Washington Times, but later sold it to Frank A. Munsey. 
Mr. Hutchins has for more than thirty years been one of 
the real captains of industry in the city of Washington. He 
has been a large real estate operator, owning some of the best- 
paying property in the city, including several of the more pre- 
tentious and fashionable apartment houses. By instinct he 
is a keen, safe trader. It has been one of his rules never to 
own property that doesn't pay. If, for any cause, he becomes 
possessed of nonproductive property, he quickly disposes of it. 
Mr. Hutchins' mind acts so quickly that it is never necessary 
for him to give much thought to business propositions that 
come to him. He seems to know intuitively whether they are 
worthy of consideration. With him it is yes or no. He will 
buy or he will not buy. Few men have a higher sense of 
values than he. Mr. Hutchins has made his mark in the world 
as a public speaker. He was elected to the legislature of Mis- 
souri when a very young man, in fact, so youthful in appear- 
ance that many could not believe he was of the constitutional 
age to sit in that body. He is now seventy-two. He has led 
an exceedingly active life, never idle, though not always pur- 
suing the dollar. His contributions to deserving charity in 
the city of Washington, though not generally known, have been 
large. During the campaign of 1896, in the historic contest 
between Mr. McKinley and Mr. Bryan for the Presidency, 

[224] 



STILSON HUTCHINS 

Mr. Hutchins was a conspicuous figure on the hustings in the 
Eastern States. There have been few public improvements 
for the betterment of the Capital City in the past twenty years 
in which his name has not been associated. He has given to 
that municipality one of the finest statues of Daniel Webster 
that has ever been cast. It is an ornament to the city of Wash- 
ington and an honor to the nation and to the man who presented 
it. It is located near Scott Circle. Mr. Hutchins also pre- 
sented a statue of Benjamin Franklin to the city, located at 
the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Tenth and D 
Streets. 

In private life Mr. Hutchins is a most delightful man. He 
is reputed to be wealthy, but no one would suspect as much 
from his democratic manner. While he may enjoy the excite- 
ment of making money, he does not hoard it. He keeps it 
in the channels of trade, and he is liberal in its expenditure. 
In a sense he is a student of art, and is especially familiar 
with the fine paintings of the world. His private gallery, 
collected entirely by himself, contains some notable canvases! 
He has done much to encourage art on the western side of the 
Atlantic, and has oftentimes lent a helping hand to struggling 
artists in times when they most needed it. Mr. Hutchins is 
one of the most charming entertainers in conversation that 
one could wish to meet. His mind is nothing short of brilliant. 
During his long residence in Washington he has been the 
associate of many of the leading men of the nation. He still 
takes a lively interest in all of the public questions of the 
day, and is as well posted on the political affairs of the country 
as any man in it. He has traveled extensively throughout 
Europe, and is as much at home in any of the cities of the Old 
World as he is at Washington. He is thoroughly cosmopolitan. 
He is a despiser of shams and hypocrisy. He has little use for 
a man who says he cannot do such and such a thing. Mr. 
Hutchins has attempted few things that he has not accom- 
plished. He has determination depicted in every feature of 

'' [225] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

his strong and handsome face. He is always well dressed. 
For a man who has devoted all his life to business enterprises, 
he possesses an unusual degree of sentiment. He does not 
like to see anything destroyed. He believes in the preservation 
of old landmarks. He has a fondness for the antique. He is 
a generous host, and likes having about him men of affairs. 
Mr. Hutchins is distinctively of that type of man that has 
made American enterprise known throughout the world. 



[226] 




MELVILLE E. INGALLS 

'or about thirty years President of the 
Cincinnati, Cleveland, Chicago and St. Louis 
Railway. Born on a farm in the State of 
jNIaine. Educated for the law. Graduate 
of the Harvard law school. Began practice 
in Boston, making a specialty of corporation 
law. In politics a Democrat. Served a term 
as a senator in the Massachusetts legislature. 
An enemy of corruptionists. Probably sixty-five years of age ; 
seems ten years younger. Positive in character. Seldom, if 
ever, fails in any large undertaking. Believes in thorough- 
ness, and practices it. Tall, straight, weighing probably 
2IO pounds. Always well dressed, as becomes his station. 
Democratic in his associations with his fellow-man. Lover 
of the arts and sciences. His career has been a notable one. 
He became associated in the management of railways more 
by accident than otherwise. In early life his bent was for a 
career at the bar. He was appointed by the United States 
Court in Boston receiver of a line of railway extending from 
Cincinnati to Chicago, known then as the Indianapolis, Cin- 
cinnati and Lafayette Railway, because he was recommended 
to the court as being an honest man. When this honor was 
conferred upon him he was about twenty-seven years of age. 
After three years of receivership, during which time he brought 
the road out of its financial difficulties, he was elected its 
president. From that time on he abandoned the idea of 
returning to the practice of law, devoting his time exclusively 
to the management of railway property. The road, of which 
he was at first receiver and then president, became an indus- 
trial power in the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Later, 

[227] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

Mr. Ingalls inaugurated an era of railroad expansion. He 
absorbed several hundred more miles of road, weaving it into 
one great system, embracing a total length of about 2,400 miles. 

The consolidated system penetrated the States of Michigan, 
Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois, thus extend- 
ing Mr. Ingalls' reputation as a railway magnate throughout 
all the Middle West. So successful had this young Boston 
lawyer become as a railway president, that he was also chosen 
President of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, which, at that 
time, extended from Norfolk, on the Atlantic, to Huntington, 
W. Va., on the Ohio River. Mr. Ingalls' first act, as the head 
of this company, was to build an extension west from Hunting- 
ton to Cincinnati, thereby establishing another trunk line 
from the sea to the Ohio Valley. It can be said to Mr. Ingalls' 
credit that he was not only president of the railways the 
destinies of which he directed, but he was practically at the 
head of every department. This illustrates his capability for 
thoroughness. Though educated for the law, he would not 
have it said that there was any other identified with the 
management of the property who was more familiar with every 
necessary business detail than he was himself; therefore, he 
was road master, purchasing agent, traffic manager, and head 
of the operating department. His active mind absorbed the 
work of every department. His labors brought the reward 
deserved. His career serves to show what can be accom- 
plished by an intelligent, forceful man, beginning at the 
bottom. While Mr. Ingalls has accomplished much in his 
thirty years of leadership in the industrial progress of the 
Middle West empire, he has not been wholly absorbed in 
the accumulation of riches, though his estimated wealth may 
run into a few millions. He has proceeded upon the theory 
that there is something more in life than the mere accumulation 
of dollars. He has always stood for high ideals in govern- 
ment, which has been one of his loftiest ambitions. 

Being a practical man, he approaches the idealist. He 

[228] 



MELVILLE E. INGALLS 

would, if he could, turn the lock of prison doors on every pubHc 
official whose conduct is other than that of an honest man. 
Mr. Ingalls has not been without some political ambition. 
At one time his friends in Ohio solicited him to become the 
Democratic candidate for Governor; and, at a later period, 
they wanted him to stand for the United States Senate. Whether 
the political signs were propitious for victory according to 
his horoscope, may never be known; but, at any rate, he 
declined with thanks. He did, however, have a longing desire 
to become Mayor of the City of Cincinnati, which has been 
his home town since 1872. He had an ambition to demon- 
strate his advanced ideas of municipal government, but in the 
contest he was defeated. That he would have made an ideal 
head of the municipality was not doubted. Since the absorp- 
tion of the Cincinnati, Cleveland, Chicago and St. Louis 
Railway by the New York Central System, Mr. Ingalls has 
been chairman of the board of directors. He has traveled 
extensively abroad. His love for art has served him well 
in his journeys through the Old World, in the collection of 
hundreds of rare bits of sculpture and paintings, many of 
them the works of the old masters. 

In temperament, Mr. Ingalls is jovial. He is well equipped 
with a splendid fund of humor. He has a fondness for the 
association of men of high mental attainments. His presence 
at banquets is always a source of pleasure upon the part of 
toastmasters and other guests. As a public speaker, Mr. 
Ingalls is forceful, and sometimes eloquent. He has the 
happy faculty of making a humorous speech when occasion 
may require. He is a lover of good books, and has, probably, 
the largest and best-selected private library of any one in the 
State of Ohio. When a young man, he early attracted the 
attention of the late William H. Vanderbilt, who made the 
prediction that he would rise to eminence in the railway world. 
In his many contests with his railway rivals, it can be set 
down, without seeming to be an extravagant statement, that 

[229] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

he never met with defeat, though in building up his great 
Middle West System he was compelled to overcome many 
obstacles. In personal appearance Mr. Ingalls might often 
be taken for an Englishman. It is not believed that he has 
ever shaved in his life. He wears a closely cropped brown 
beard, slightly tinged with gray. He has fine, almost classical 
features, dark eyes, in which there is nearly always a merry 
twinkle. He has the happy faculty of frequently illustrating 
points he wishes to make by applying a suitable story, much 
after the custom related of Abraham Lincoln. 



[230] 




OLLIE JAMES 

'iVEN a man of great heart and huge frame, 
of a character which sits well with the ideals 
of his neighbors, of a turn of mind which 
espouses more ardently than do his neighbors 
political principles which they inherently 
believe, then that man will likely be able to 
secure from his neighbors whatever they 
have to bestow in the way of political ofhce. 
That is partly why, Ollie M. James, Congressman from 
the First Kentucky District as this book is printed, is Con- 
gressman. That is why he is the idol of his home people, and 
if the predictions of his friends and his own political ambitions 
keep pace with the march of events, James will seek and 
secure higher honors from the people of Kentucky. 

He is a leader, and therefore meat for this book. But he 
is a leader because he is also a follower. He knows the first 
duty of a soldier, and knows it well. In the House of Repre- 
sentatives James votes with the general conviction of his party; 
he goes as go the Democratic members. Often in public 
matters he discusses with the other leaders of the Demo- 
crats his views of legislation and maneuver. Frequently 
these are adopted. But when they are not adopted, James 
considers that the judgment of the majority of his colleagues 
is sufficient, and he votes as they determine. 

These are valuable qualities. To be a leader in politics 
means that one must have been a follower before. Jefferson 
himself learned some lessons from those who had preceded 
him in the struggles of the world for liberty of expression and 
of person: Savonarola, David, Arminius, and the rest. Lin- 

[231] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

coin learned from Jefferson, Roosevelt learned from Lincoln. 
And it goes so, and so it will continue to go. 

Ollie James — he is one of those huge, likable men whom 
every one knows by their full names — had to be especially 
licensed to practice when he was ready for the law, because 
he was under age. At seventeen he was big of body, nearly 
six feet six inches tall, and growing broad in proportion. At 
eighteen he was making political speeches. By the time he 
was thirty, the future leader in the House had spoken in 
nearly every county of Kentucky. He had headed the Ken- 
tucky delegation to national conventions. He was widely 
and favorably known. His great voice had boomed the prin- 
ciples of Democracy in many States. He was regarded as 
a man who would be heard from in broader fields. 

Then, at thirty-two, politicians in his district found that 
he was too strong to be stayed ; that when he wanted place, he 
got it. If he ever turned his eyes upon the Congress, they 
knew that the people would elect him to the office. And 
so genial and big and able is Ollie James that, though he has 
defeated many, he never left an angered opponent in his 
career. He went to Congress in his thirty-second year, and 
in the House he has taken a commanding place. In parlia- 
mentary skirmishes his shrewd leadership has given his party 
many a technical victory. His information on the principles 
of government and party has enabled him to put an embar- 
rassing white light on many a fervid orator of the opposition. 

He can handle liimself in debate, too. When he was first 
elected, members of the Repubhcan side gazed upon the bulk 
of James, upon his round and jovial face, upon his humor- 
ously bald head, and they thought that they had discovered 
one who should become, under proper training, the clown of 
the House. They tried him once or twice. Like a roaring 
broadside from a battleship came his responses. He answered 
sneers with satire so biting and so sweeping that sneers were 
abandoned as a weapon against him. He replied to cour- 

[232] 



OLLIE JAMES 

teous questions courteously, to bantering questions with 
banter as good as they sent. So he took front rank in the 
House. 

James has little patience with abstruse technicalities of 
law. He is not one who ponders or argues long over a matter 
of constitutionality that could be construed both ways. What 
he thinks of this procedure is best illustrated by a speech he 
made toward the close of the long session of the Sixty-first 
Congress. He was defending a bill restricting gambling on 
cotton futures from attacks charging unconstitutionality. 

''I have been here a number of years now," said James, 
"and during that time I have seen many a knight of the 
Constitution come galloping into the lists gallantly, bearing 
himself with skill and with ease. But I have, during my ser- 
vice here, seen not one of these knights of the Constitution, 
with visor down and lance in rest, come into the lists to do 
battle for the man who sows the grain or reaps the harvest or 
digs the ditch!" 

As the bill was drawn to benefit farmers and was being 
opposed by many city representatives, this shot went home in 
several sections. 

James has up to this time been successful in every political 
endeavor, and his leadership in Kentucky and in the Demo- 
cratic party in the nation is powerful. He has a certain 
quality of caution — his detractors call it cowardice, but it 
has served well thus far — which makes him look far ahead 
and around a bend before he foots a new road. At Denver, 
had he agreed to accept the place, he could have, in 1908, been 
nominated for Vice-President by the Democrats. But he 
pointed out that a Southern man would weaken the ticket in 
the nation; that the negro or Ci\'il War question would be 
raised on him. Earlier than that, in Kentucky, he could have 
been nominated for Governor, but he saw certain factional 
differences that would have arisen, and he refused to permit 
his name to go before the convention. The candidate who 

[233] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

was named lost the State by 17,000 votes, while few doubt 
that James could have carried it. But he saw farther ahead 
than they, and by his continued service in the House he did 
such valorous work for his party as to be in a measure respon- 
sible for the enviable position in which the Democrats find 
themselves in the fall of 19 10. 

It is impossible to pass from Ollie James without men- 
tion of his size in specific terms. Congress rarely has seen 
such a man. It is used to awkward and lean giants from the 
far South, to giants of avoirdupois from the great cities, to 
reasonably tall men from the West and Central South. But 
James, although over six feet and a half in height, is no bulkier 
in proportion than the average man of forty ; his face is smooth 
and firm ; his muscles great and conditioned ; his feet huge but 
well-formed; his hands immense but shapely. He comports 
himself with dignity, his step is elastic, and his eye is clear. 
He seems to have been shaped in the molds that cast the huge 
limbs and the colossal shoulders of those warriors who razed 
Carthage and tore down the walls of Byzantium. 



[ 234 ] 




BEN JOHNSON 

^SK MEN who have studied national affairs, 
who arc accustomed to measuring the abilities 
of Congressmen, what adjective they would 
use to express the most prominent quality of 
Ben Johnson, Congressman from the Fourth 
Kentucky district. It is likely that they 
would answer, "Capable." 
Ask his neighbors in Bardstown, where he 
has lived all his fifty-four years, where he has been the most 
valuable citizen, what they think the most noticeable quahty 
of Ben Johnson. They would probably answer, "Sound." 

That about begins a sketch of the man. Add to these 
qualifications, the ability to be fearless, honest, strong, and 
thoroughly sincere, and you arrive at a fair understanding of 
what manner of man Ben Johnson is. In a national sense, he 
does not enjoy the newspaper distinction which makes the 
names of others in this book independent of description. But 
that lack comes because Johnson is a committee worker, and 
does not employ oratory as a means to secure his ends. When 
a member of a minority party belongs to this type of Congress- 
man, he is likely not to be so well known as a majority mem- 
ber with similar resources. 

One of the most striking things about Johnson is his appear- 
ance. Over six feet in height, with a graceful, slight, but 
muscular frame, wide shoulders, long arms, and a fine head. 
His hair is thinning, but its sturdy iron-gray gives it an appear- 
ance of volume. His eyes are steel-blue, and they have the 
fearless, unflinching look that the nation likes to associate with 
Kentuckians. His lips are not thin, but they set to each other 

[235] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

tightly ; his jaws are lean and strong, and his skin is tanned 
by outdoor life. He is smooth-shaven. 

Johnson began life as a good lawyer in Bardstown. But 
politics drew him in, almost against his will. He is of the 
type which interests itself in anything that men are doing, 
and the stirring field of politics was certain to lure him. He 
held State offices; finally, before he was thirty, presiding over 
the Kentucky house of representatives. Then as State 
senator and Congressman, with certain vain attempts to return 
to private life, he gained estimation and favor in his State, 
until now he is a leading candidate for the Democratic nomina- 
tion for Governor. 

In the Congress, his work has been of the sober though 
unusual kind that does not advertise a man except among his 
colleagues. In the Sixty-first Congress, Johnson added him- 
self to the handful of men who, in the history of the country, 
have ever made anything out of their membership on the Dis- 
trict of Columbia Committee. What he did against oppo- 
sition of all sorts is evident in improved conditions in Dis- 
trict affairs. He is also the foremost authority on revenue 
affairs in the Congress, his long legal and official experience 
with revenue-producing industries having fitted him therefor. 
Whatever the result of his gubernatorial aspirations, he will 
have an opportunity to serve in another Congress, and if this, 
like Ben Johnson, is Democratic, the nation will learn some- 
thing of him. 

Johnson is one of the few men in the world who scrupu- 
lously gives half his income to religious enterprises. By this 
time he has become wealthy, but while his fortunes were 
mounting, when he was a young married man with the new 
responsibilities of a family, he divided his income, to the 
penny, with churches, missions, and the like. The best 
precedents are to give one-tenth, but Johnson thinks that he 
has always owed enough to his Creator to foster the works of 
the Almighty in every way he understands. Nor does Johnson 

[236] 



BEN JOHNSON 

discriminate. He calculates from his income how much he 
shall give to each denomination, and the first calls that come 
are first heeded, and so forth, until the appropriation for each 
denomination is exhausted for the year. 

He believes in his fellow-man. WTien his children severally 
arrived at the age of six, Johnson gave to each power of attor- 
ney upon him. He explained to the children what this meant, 
how extravagance upon their part would disturb all their 
habits of living. And he proudly relates that not one of the 
children ever exceeded a moderate expenditure. 

There is no truer or better type of State leader or Kentuckian 
anywhere than Ben Johnson. 



[237I 




JOSEPH F.JOHNSTON 

JeNATOR in Congress from the State of 
Alabama. Senator Johnston is one of the 
new forces in national affairs. He came to 
the highest legislative body in the country 
in 1907, being the successor of the illustrious 
John Tyler Morgan. Senator Johnston, how- 
ever, is not new to politics. Almost every man, 
woman and child, black or white, in Alabama 
knows of him if they do not know him personally. He served 
as Governor for four years, and the history of the State has 
it that he made the best governor that ever sat in the executive 
chair at Montgomery. Senator Johnston is a native of North 
Carolina, but he got away from that State about as soon as he 
could. He was a youngster when he arrived in Alabama. 
He was not old enough to vote when the Civil War had its 
beginning. He was not long, however, in appearing in action 
after the first shot at Fort Sumter. He heard it, as did all of the 
other young men of the South. He is not warlike in dispo- 
sition, but about the first thing he did after knowing that hos- 
tilities had begun was to get out his gun and march to the front. 
He went in as a subaltern, and came out a captain, having won 
his honors meritoriously. When the shooting was all over, 
he returned to Alabama in a destitute state. He was not 
exactly barefooted, but very nearly so. His other raiment 
was in a much-tattered condition, but he had with him the 
consciousness of having put up the best fight he knew how, 
and that he had met defeat while facing the enemy, and not 
in trying to get away from it. That is one of Senator John- 
ston's peculiarities. He fights squarely in front. He took up 
the study of law, later was admitted to the bar, and soon 
had a good practice. He was living then, as now, in Bir- 

[238] 



JOSEPH F. JOHNSTON 

mingham, which, in those days, was a small place, where 
luxuries were comparatively unknown, but hardships were the 
happenings of almost every hour. He was one of the pioneers 
of Birmingham, which to-day is one of the most progressive 
industrial centers of the country'. As the town prospered, so 
did Johnston. With others, he established a bank. It also 
prospered. In time, he was made president of this financial 
institution. He became, likewise, interested in the industrial 
development of Birmingham's great coal and iron district. 
As he progressed in the accumulation of wealth, his reputa- 
tion as a fine business man extended throughout the State. 
He is not rich, but "well to do." 

In the middle nineties, Mr. Johnston became a candidate 
for Governor. He did not get the nomination, however, with- 
out a fight, though when the time rolled around for a renomina- 
tion, there was no one to oppose him. He had ''made good." 
In administering the affairs of the State as Governor, it was 
said of him that he exhibited more business acumen than 
any one who had ever preceded him. One of the first things 
he did was to set the machinery of the State in motion against 
the tax-dodgers. There were thousands of them in all parts 
of the commonwealth. It did not seem possible that one 
State could possess so many men who did not want to pay 
their honest taxes. Many of the county officers were respon- 
sible for the noncollection of the same. Some of these were 
entirely too lenient, in the opinion of the Governor. It raised 
a furore, but he was determined. He made every tax-dodger 
in the State ''come across," and pay his proportionate share, 
no more, no less, for the upkeep of the State government. 
Senator Johnston has, because of his strong personality, 
very quickly taken rank as a Senator of unusual force. He 
did not wait the accustomed two years before making his 
presence known to the Senate. He has never been noted for 
having any particularly high regard for precedents of long 
standing when business is to be done in a business way. There 

[239] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

are very few things transpiring in the Senate of which Senator 
Johnston is not aware. No one can ever truthfully accuse him 
of being asleep at his post. He is always on guard. 

Senator Johnston has a striking individuality. Some men 
may not like him at first ; but when they come to know him well, 
they admire him for his many fine quahties. He is magnetic. 
His ingenuousness and simplicity take control of those who 
know him intimately. One of his many strong points is his 
equable temper. He seldom gets mad, but when he does, 
something usually happens. He is probably the best story- 
teller in the Senate to-day, and always has a fine stock on 
hand. He can tell a story, possibly, as well as, if not better 
than, most men. He seems to have mastered the art of telling 
them as they should be told. He doesn't drag in a lot of 
unnecessary details. He has respect for the imagination of 
his auditors. Senator Johnston is simplicity personified. 
He prefers smoking a cob pipe to the best cigar ever made. 
He does not do this because the pipe is the cheaper. Senator 
Johnston is liberal in money matters, yet wisely conservative. 
He is popular in his home city, and if a man is liked by his 
neighbors, it is safe to go upon the theory that he is a good 
man and a good citizen. He loves reading the Bible. Sen- 
ator Johnston will never set the world on fire with his elo- 
quence, yet he is a good, strong, forceful speaker; but he will 
prevent the other fellow from setting it on fire, if it is to be 
followed by any kind of destruction. He is a man who builds 
upward and does not tear down. He is an optimist, and 
he is glad of it. He sees the brighter side of life always. He 
has done much for Alabama ; more, probably, than it will ever 
be able to repay. He is approaching seventy years of age, 
but appears fifteen years younger. He is not tall, probably 
five feet ten inches, weighing about two hundred pounds. 
He has a gray mustache, which was originally sandy. He 
dresses well, but not conspicuously. He is likely to stay in the 
Senate as long as he lives. 

[ 240 ] 




JULIUS KAHN 

'EPRESEXTATIVE in Congress from the 
Fourth district of California. Mr. Kahn is 
not a native of the United States, though he 
may wish he were. Having been born in 
Europe, he is not eligible to the office of 
President of the United States. Were it not 
for this constitutional prohibition, ^Mr. Kahn 
might be troubled with the buzzing of the 
Presidential bee. He is a native of Kuppenheim, Germany, 
and still holds in fond remembrance all that is beautiful and 
inspiring in the Fatherland. Mr. Kahn came to America 
with his" parents in 1866, when he was probably five years old. 
He has no particular recollection of his first sight of the "home 
of the brave and the land of the free." As his parents jour- 
neyed all the way to California on their arrival in America, 
it might be inferred that they were displeased with the country 
when they landed from New York; that they desired to 
get as nearly out of the country as possible by going to the 
water's edge on the Pacific side. As a boy, young Kahn 
attended the public schools in San Francisco, and if all reports 
be true, was among the brightest scholars. On approaching 
man's estate, he had in view some three or four professions, 
but was in a quandary as to which to adopt. He had a fond- 
ness for the theater. The limelight of the stage looked good 
to him. He believed he possessed histrionic talents, and so he 
did. His friends encouraged him in this belief to such an- 
extent that he concluded he would enter upon a stage career. 
He began by playing small roles, and it was pleasing to him. 
He smiled a very broad smile when he read in the morning 
newspaper the criticism of the play, and of himself and his co- 
actors. The dramatic critic had actually mentioned Mr. Kahn's 
name, and in a praiseworthy manner. The next evening, the 
i6 [241] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

young actor believed he was entitled to a position nearer the 
center of the stage than he had been permitted to occupy before 
receiving honorable mention. Some of Mr. Kahn's friends 
took the view that from this time on, he was entitled to be a 
star with his name in big letters on the three-sheet posters. 
Mr. Kahn was modest, but inclined to agree with the views ex- 
pressed by his admirers, that at least in time he would advance 
to the head of some dramatic organization, presumably his own. 
Mr. Kahn developed into a fine actor. For several years 
he was associated with Edwin Booth and Lawrence Barrett 
in the presentation of the standard and classical plays. In 
those days, there was not the same luxury in railway travel that 
there is to-day, and there were comparatively few good theaters 
in the United States. He concluded there might be a more 
promising future for him, if he were to abandon his ambition 
to become a dramatic luminary. His stage career had no 
doubt whetted his appetite to be in the public gaze. There- 
fore, he enlarged his scope of endeavor and got into the political 
illumination. He announced himself as a candidate for the 
State legislature. In some of the plays in which Mr. Kahn 
had appeared, he was sometimes cast to play the part of the 
Duke of Gloucester, the villain. He may have thought that 
this fitted him for a legislative career. He was triumphantly 
elected as a lawmaker and made good. This was in 1892. 
Two years following he was admitted to the bar of the Supreme 
Court of the State. He had, in the meantime, become prob- 
ably a better lawyer than he had been an actor; yet Mr. Booth 
once said that Mr. Kahn was one of the most promising young 
actors he had ever known. As a lawyer, he prospered, both in 
purse and in popularity. His experience in the State legis- 
lature, he beheved, gave him some right to ask to be made 
a Representative in Congress. At first, there was some little 
opposition to this, chiefly by others who themselves wanted 
to become candidates for this honor. The voting population 
thought well of Mr. Kahn's candidacy. In truth, they said, 

[ 242 ] 



JULIUS KAHN 

"Certainly, we will elect you to Congress, Mr. Kahn"; and 
they kept their word. He entered Congress at its fifty-sixth 
session, and, with one exception, was re-elected to every Con- 
gress thereafter, up to and including the Sixty-first. The 
chances are, he will remain in Congress some years longer, 
if he so desires. 

Mr. Kalin has come to be known as one of the ablest repre- 
sentatives California has sent to Washington for several years. 
That is high honor, when one takes into consideration that 
the enterprising people on the Pacific always tr}' to select their 
best men to represent them at the Nation's Capital. It is the 
common belief that most people can tell an actor when they 
see him, because of his facial appearance. Seven persons 
out of cver}^ ten would take Mr. Kahn for an actor wherever 
they might see him. He still retains the appearance of the 
tragedian, but not of the crushed variety. His face is some- 
what of the classical type. He wears his hair a bit long, 
which accentuates his fine features. Mr. Kahn is not only a 
capable legislator, but an able man. Xo man ever sat in 
Congress who was more loyal to the interests of the Pacific 
Coast than is Mr. Kahn. He will sit up all night for seven 
consecutive nights, if necessar)% to advance the interests of 
California. As a public speaker, he is forceful and enter- 
taining. He is always natural when appearing in public, 
indicating that his stage schooling was not without good 
results. Mr. Kahn is not much in evidence, except when his 
presence is needed. He knows legislation is mostly done in 
committees, and that is where hard work counts for the most. 
Mr. Kahn has some few hobbies, all of a commendable nature. 
He is very much at home with the poets. He has read the 
plays of Shakespeare more times than he can tell. He is 
exceedingly fond of outdoor life, and when in his adopted 
State lives in the open as much as he can. If San Francisco 
does not get the Panama exposition, it will not be because Mr. 
Kahn has failed to do his duty. 

[243] 




JOHN KEAN 

■ENATOR in Congress from New Jersey. It 
is popularly supposed that for a man to be a 
useful and influential United States Senator, 
he must be a forceful speaker and orator. 
The reverse is true in the case of Senator 
Kean. Whatever may be said of him, he is 
not noisy. There have been few men in 
the Senate who could equal Mr. Kean in 
industry. It is a rare thing for him to be absent from roll 
call. He is a good committee worker. He knows the purport 
of every bill introduced in the Senate. He is punctilious about 
answering every letter he receives. In a sense. Senator 
Kean is a kind of "pack horse" for the voters of New Jersey. 
No one knows, except a Senator and Representative, the 
number of letters received by them, and the inquiries therein 
contained. A great many of them are upon subjects wholly 
foreign to any part of the duties of a legislator. No one has 
ever heard Senator Kean complain about the volume of his 
correspondence or the many foolish requests made of him by 
his constituents. It has been his rule, during his Senatorial 
career, never to permit a letter to go more than three days 
without a courteous reply, unless it be that the information 
asked was not forthcoming from the departments within this 
period. He does not write long letters. He is a faithful 
conservator of time and paper and the labor of typists. Sen- 
ator Kean has acquired some reputation as an "objector" 
on the floor of the Senate. His manner is oftentimes abrupt, 
or at least it seems so, though he does not intend it to be so. 
He is a highly educated man. He stays in politics because he 
likes the game. He is rich and unmarried. His income is 

[ 244 ] 



JOHN KEAN 

much larger than he can spend ; therefore the getting of more 
money is of no particular interest to him. His first political 
experience was as a member of the House of Representatives. 
He was comparatively a young man at that time, with no 
thought of adopting a political career beyond one or possibly 
two terms in Congress. Political life in Washington so fas- 
cinated him that at the first opportunity he declared himself a 
candidate for the United States Senate, and was the unanimous 
choice of the Republican party in the legislature. He was first 
elected to Congress in 1882 and was re-elected in 1886. In 
1892, he was the Republican candidate for Governor, but was 
defeated. Senator Kean is at the head of two financial institu- 
tions, one the National State Bank of New Jersey, and the 
other the Manhattan Trust Company, of New York. 

Senator Kean is strong in his partisanship. He is always 
watchful for the interests of the Republican party. His 
Democratic opponents have got to get up early in the morning 
if they want to "score" against him on anything coming 
before the Senate. He has a habit of insisting on a strict 
enforcement of the rules governing the proceedings in the 
Senate, and if anything is to be "slipped through," in the 
matter of being brought to the Senate's attention, which may 
seem in the least out of the ordinary, Senator Kean is the one 
sentinel on guard to make protest and prevent any further 
procedure on these lines, if possible. He has few intimate 
associates. He devotes nearly all of his time to his duties 
as Senator. Occasionally he is seen at the theater, but this is 
rare. He entertains handsomely at his home, which is pre- 
sided over by his sisters. Having, probably, more than his 
share of the wealth of the world, he is not averse to spending 
some of it toward enhancing the social life of Washington. 
Senator Kean is not a man who makes friends very easily, 
but he has the strong faculty of retaining them after they are 
once made. He is modest in all things. He is entertaining in 
conversation, though he would rather read than talk. He 

[245] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

maintains a handsome home in Washington the year around, 
and has one of the most useful libraries in the Capital City. 

Senator Kean is always doing something. He is a man of 
system. He performs his duties in the Senate with the same 
regard for method that he employs in directing the destinies 
of his two banking institutions. He is a fine organizer. He 
has built up one of the strongest political organizations known 
to New Jersey. Those who know Senator Kean best, like him. 
He possesses many qualities that endear him to his fellow-man. 
Notwithstanding his wealth, his method of life is simple. He 
doesn't care anything for show. He would rather be an 
on-looker in the rear part of the Senate than occupy a front 
seat where he could be seen by everybody. He has implicit 
faith in the value of thorough political organization. This, 
no doubt, savors of "machine politics," but to him it is the 
correct method, at least for his State. Those who come in 
personal contact with Senator Kean say many good things 
about him. He is ever willing to render a friend a favor, pro- 
viding it is consistent with business reasons. It is doubtful if 
there is a man in the Senate who keeps in closer touch with the 
political affairs of his State than does Senator Kean. He reads 
nearly every newspaper printed in New Jersey. If an editor 
show a disposition to kick over the political traces, which 
occasionally some one does. Senator Kean is not slow in getting 
in touch with the offending molder of public thought. He 
wants to know the reason. The usual result is, that the Senator 
brings the offender back into line, whereupon everything is 
again harmonious, and the goose is honking high. Senator 
Kean, in selecting his wearing apparel, prefers dark colors. 
His tailor, it would appear, is among the best. Senator Kean 
is too busy a man to find much time for recreation. He is 
wealthy enough to have others attend to his commercial inter- 
ests, but he would not permit this, because many of his friends 
are stockholders in his banks, and became such because of 
their confidence in his integrity and business abihty. 

[246] 




WILLIAM PITT KELLOGG 

'ORMER wScnator, former Governor, former 
Representative in Congress from Louisiana. 
There are few men in the United States 
who possess a more unique or more interest- 
ing history than Governor Kellogg. To those 
who know him best he is usually called 
Governor. He was born December 8, 1830, 
in Onvell, Vermont. His father was a Con- 
gregational clergyman. He was educated at Norwich Mili- 
tary University, now located at Northficld, Vermont. Admi- 
ral Dewey also was educated at this University. In 1846, 
his father. Rev. Sherman Kellogg, removed to Illinois to take 
charge of a church in Peoria, but died a short time thereafter. 
ThrowTi upon his own resources, Kellogg taught a country 
school in Peoria County, ^\•inters, and summers read law with 
E. G. Johnson, in Peoria, a well-known law^-er and a warm 
friend of Mr. Lincoln. He was admitted to the bar in 1852, 
and began practice at Canton, Fulton County. During this 
year he first met Mr. Lincoln, who attended court at Lewis- 
town, the county seat of Fulton County, and assisted him in 
trying one or two cases. 

In May, 1856, Mr. Kellogg was chosen by the party then 
known as the Anti-Nebraska party as one of five delegates 
from Fulton County to the Bloomington convention, which 
met in Bloomington, May 29, 1856, at which convention the 
Republican party of Illinois was organized. Of the five 
delegates from Fulton County one was the father of Thomas 
Hamer, at present Member of Congress from Idaho. Mr. 
Kellogg was chairman of his delegation. Mr. Lincoln was 
chairman of the delegation from Sangamon County. At 

[247] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

that convention Mr. Lincoln made his famous so-called 
"Lost Speech." In this speech, among other noted sayings, 
he uttered the epigram: 

"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of 
the people all the time, but you can't fool all the people all 
the time." 

And in referring to the secession of the South Mr. Lincoln 
made the often- quoted remark: 

"We won't go out of the Union, and they shan't." 

What is known as "the house divided against itself can- 
not stand" speech was not made in Bloomington, as is often 
stated, but in the house of representatives in Springfield 
two years later, in 1858, just before the beginning of the joint 
debate between Lincoln and Douglas. Of the members of the 
Bloomington convention at last accounts only three besides 
Governor Kellogg were living. Of the delegates and alter- 
nates chosen by this convention to the Philadelphia conven- 
tion which nominated Fremont in 1856, only two are living — 
Thomas J. Henderson, for many years Member of Congress 
from Illinois, and Governor Kellogg. 

In 1856, Governor Kellogg was a candidate on the legisla- 
tive ticket in Fulton County. Mr. Lincoln came to Fulton 
County both in 1856 and in 1858, and each year made a speech 
in aid of Kellogg. In i860 Kellogg was again a delegate from 
Fulton County to the Republican State convention held at 
Decatur, where Richard Yates was nominated as Governor, 
and delegates were chosen to the Chicago convention which 
nominated Mr. Lincoln as President. Kellogg was chosen a 
Presidential elector, and is the only one of the Illinois Presiden- 
tial electors of i860 now living. Shortly after Mr. Lincoln's 
first inauguration, in 1861, Kellogg was appointed by Mr. 
Lincoln to be Chief Justice of Nebraska. He went to that 
Territory, and held court in the summer of 1861. A rather 
notable incident occurred during that time. Alvin Saunders, 
of Iowa, was Territorial Governor; A. S. Paddock was Secre- 

[248] 



WILLIAM PITT KELLOGG 

taty of the Tcrritor)'; P. H. Hitchcock, the father of the present 
Member of Congress from Nebraska, was Marshal; George 
Spencer was private secretar}- to Governor Saunders. At that 
time the First Nebraska Volunteers were mustered into ser- 
vice. Thayer was appointed colonel; Tipton was chosen 
chaplain. All these gentlemen, with Kellogg, who was Chief 
Justice, lived at the Herndon Hotel which is at present 
the headquarters of the Union Pacific Railroad in Omaha. 
During Kellogg's two terms in the Senate he met all of these 
gentlemen— ^even including himself— on the floor of the Sen- 
ate, as Senators: Spencer from Alabama, Saunders, Paddock, 
Hitchcock, Thayer, and Tipton from Nebraska, he himself 
being Senator from Louisiana. 

In July, 1 86 1, Governor Yates WTOte Kellogg requesting 
him to return to Illinois and recruit a regiment of cavalr>'. He 
did so, and aided in raising the regiment known as the Seventh 
Illinois Cavalry, composed of the sons of farmers, who were 
allowed (something unusual at the time) to furnish and own 
their own horses. It was this regiment that the Senator 
from Mississippi who was in the Senate but a few months 
declared in his um'que speech in that body a year or so ago 
to be the best fighting regiment he ever saw. Kellogg was 
appointed by Governor Yates colonel of this regiment. Mr. 
Lincoln gave him six months' leave of absence, which was 
afterward renewed several times, and Colonel Kellogg reported 
to General Grant at Cairo, who detailed him to command 
the post at Cape Girardeau where were located Major Powell's 
(who was afterward Director of the Geological Survey) Chicago 
Batter}-, the Seventeenth Illinois Volunteers, and the Eleventh 
Missouri. He remained in command of that post four months, 
and later reported to General Pope at the capture of Fort 
Thompson and Island Number Ten. After the Battle of 
Shiloh he was ordered to Pittsburg Landing and participated 
in the conflicts at Farmington and Corinth. After the battle 
of Corinth he was stricken with typhoid fever and was for 

[249] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

months a conjErmed invalid. Resigning, he returned to 
Nebraska and resumed his duties as Chief Justice of that Ter- 
ritory until January, 1863, when Governor Yates requested 
him to return to Illinois and accompany him on his (Governor 
Yates') tour of inspection of the Illinois soldiers in the field. 
At that time General Grant's headquarters was opposite 
Vicksburg, on the steamer Magnolia. Governor Kellogg, 
together with Governor Yates, was often at General Grant's 
headquarters, and on one occasion Mr. Kellogg was commis- 
sioned to carry important dispatches to Washington, which 
he did and returned to Grant's headquarters, and with Yates 
was on the steamer Magnolia when the gunboats ran the 
blockade at Vicksburg and subsequently when they crossed 
the Mississippi, and at the battle of Port Gibson. 

In 1865, being still Chief Justice of Nebraska, he was 
appointed collector of customs at New Orleans under the 
following circumstances. President Lincoln had made a 
speech of great significance in front of the White House on 
Tuesday evening, April 11, wherein he outlined to some 
extent his policy regarding the Southern States, and especially 
regarding the case of Louisiana. At that time there were two 
Senators from Louisiana seeking admission to the Senate 
from that State. It was in this speech that Mr. Lincoln 
referred to negro suffrage, saying: "I would prefer that it 
were now conferred on the intelligent and on those who served 
our cause as soldiers." In the course of this speech he said: 
"Concede that the new government of Louisiana is only what 
it should be, as the egg is to the fowl, we shall sooner have the 
fowl by hatching the egg than by crushing it." 

Wednesday evening, April 12, Kellogg had an interview 
with President Lincoln by appointment, during which Mr. 
Lincoln offered to appoint him collector of customs at New 
Orleans, being the first collector after the war, and a position 
likely to be of great influence, and advised him to go there 
instead of returning to Nebraska. On Thursday morning, 

[250] 



WILLIAM PITT KELLOGG 

April 13, Mr. Kellogg called on the President with Governor 
Yates, at this time Senator from Illinois, and during the con- 
versation it was agreed that he would go as collector to New 
Orleans. Mr. Lincoln sent for Air. McCuUoch, Secretary of 
the Treasury, and directed him to make out a commission to 
Kellogg as collector. Kellogg gave liis bond that day with 
Governor Yates and others as security, and his commission 
late in the day was executed, being dated April 13. The 
next day, Good Friday, Kellogg called at the Treasury Depart- 
ment and learned that his commission was issued and had 
been sent for him to Mr. Nicolay, Mr. Lincoln's secretary, 
who was an old friend of Kellogg's and had originally resided 
in an adjoining county to his in Illinois. Mr. Kellogg called 
at the White House in the morning, but was not able to get his 
commission until about four o'clock. Mr. Lincoln probably 
signed the commission the day before, but Mr. Kellogg received 
it on the evening of April 14, saw Mr. Lincoln for a few 
minutes, and bade him good-by, expecting to start for New 
Orleans the next day, Saturday. That night President 
Lincoln was assassinated. 

Mr. Kellogg went to New Orleans and served as collector 
until July, 1868, when he was elected United States Senator. 
He served in the Senate until November, 1872, when he was 
elected Governor of Louisiana, acting as Governor from Jan- 
uary, 1873, to Januar}% 1877, when he was again elected to the 
United States Senate, serving six years, after which he was 
elected to the lower House of Congress, serving two years. At 
the expiration of his term in the lower House, his party being 
defeated by the election of Mr. Cleveland, he retired from 
active poHtics. He was a delegate at large from Louisiana 
in the national convention of 1868, which nominated General 
Grant, and in every succeeding Republican convention up to 
and including the St. Louis convention of 1896, which nomi- 
nated McKinley. At nearly every convention he was chair- 
man of his delegation. He was one of the famous three- 

[251] 



ISO PEN PICTURES OF LHT MEN 

•1 iz£ siA ielf:ri.:e< ~ Cr^ner^i Grant to 



r : l^^: _ .^ ..llr SMZize: : . : ;:~ Governor 



,__ ._- >; 



.A5 ii -'tl iir ' - ' -'- -7 zrs: veais of Gov- 



WILLIAM PITT KELLOGG 






very acrimomous strugg^, un*-'* -*'-.* 

recognized Mm as both <fe/i; - - 

has Jong ance passed away. A; : -J; 

Repubhcan friends ii. ^ 

during his trying stniu 

from a speech dehTer: 

to Governor Kellogg. Senator Hoar, of ^I - 

was chairman of a Joint Comrr.; 

Gjngress sent to Louisizr.i - 

afEaiis in that State, said iz -_;;_, . - 

"This man diows the civfl comm: Lji- 

cohi and the register of brave and h -. s-trriir 

in the cause of the Unf-.n 

"S<Mne years ago. i' - ' ~ z 

me by the House of I 

the complaints ariizii: his adniinis:r_ - _ .emor of 

Louisiana. I declare it my belief t?._: : : -- i- tr : - 

and integr^r :: :': i con^pscuoiis ar 

He found h r r r-^^e^. andk: : 

treasury empty a: ::. aad '..:: „ _n _ ' 

(Forty-sixth Congr. - ^ :r i Sv^r : : : : 

Political conte- - iir 

days of recon5:r . - - 

great feeling. I: : : /: }: _ _: 

he fou^it his : — ir^r.rr?. ir. ■ -= -ji -"-t it" He 

is a lover of an. and is als :i :i:: - : „- H, - 



history of the country :;r the rii: ii— : i :jir ~---^- 

in which he re!i:e? ihe— ii — '-'- ~ sz;— :: — zr _f In 
reciting iii5:i-::- :Xi: -_ hi t hme-ri z:rr- v :- :::: 
he recs!^5 : r.:zi i::: _ _:r:: :hr -i::;7f :: lersrr- : : hvi 
therevr::; h ~: he ~„" -;: :;„ r :h .:c:^: :: : :: r: .i;v tJiTS. 

L -^53 J 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

His political fortunes may not have been as he would have 
shaped them, but he was flung into a conflict not of his own 
making, and not upon his own volition. He took orders from 
a higher authority, which was President Lincoln. That he 
faithfully did all that was required of him no one has ever 
questioned. His simplicity is in keeping with the strong, 
vigorous character of the man. Mr. Kellogg is capable of 
relating more interesting reminiscences of Mr. Lincoln in his 
early days as a lawyer and in his sudden burst upon the country 
as a Presidential candidate than any other now living, with the 
exception of Senator Shelby M. Cullom, of Illinois. Mr. 
Kellogg, though in his eightieth year, is as active, both in 
mind and body, as are most men twenty-five years younger. 
He is active in his movements and his mental faculties are as 
keen as they were when he was the storm center during the 
reconstruction period in Louisiana. In all respects William 
Pitt Kellogg is a veteran and has had in his long life a most 
extraordinary career. 



[254] 




JOHN W. KERN 

NE OF Indiana's most prominent citizens. 
Mr. Kern is probably best known to the 
public as having been the candidate for Vice- 
President on the ticket with William J. Br\'an 
in 1908. Air. Kern is a native of Indiana, 
and has long been regarded as one of its 
leading lawyers. He hails from the northern 
part of the State, where he counts his friends 
by the thousands. He has been a practicing lawyer since 
reaching man's estate, and for the past twenty-five years has 
been one of the leading members of the bar of Marion 
County, in which is located the city of Indianapolis, now Mr. 
Kern's home. He is probably better known in politics than 
otherwise, but has engaged in it more from party principle 
than anything else. He loves the excitement attendant upon 
a discussion of pending political issues. He is a good stump 
speaker. He is of commanding presence, and has a voice 
that seldom fails in reaching the outskirts of political gather- 
ings, no matter how large. He is also a convincing speaker. 
He has the faculty of calling a spade a spade and a meatax a 
meatax. He wields the ''big stick" when it comes to making 
a political speech. He revels in political contests. His oppo- 
nents admire him because he is a fair and courageous con- 
testant. He gets to the hearts of the people. He speaks 
their language and speaks it fluently. It has been said there 
is more politics to the square foot in the State of Indiana than 
in any other ten States in the Union. This may be true, 
and it may not ; but it is safe to make the assertion that there 
is more political speech-making in that State, every two 
years, than in any other twenty States. All political issues are 

[255] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

brought to the attention of the voting population through the 
forensic efforts of the best speakers in the respective parties. 

Mr. Kern, as a young man, entered the political arena 
and it was not long until his party services were in demand, 
not only in his own State, but in other doubtful commonwealths, 
where political agitation seemed a necessity. He is as force- 
ful at the bar as he is on the stump. He has been of recent 
years one of the leading attorneys in a large number of the 
more important cases of htigation. He has not sought ofhce 
often, though he has been a candidate, not always at his own 
solicitation, but because of party demand. He was once 
elected reporter of the Supreme Court, an ofhce having a 
four-years' term. He was once his party's candidate for 
governor. He was a candidate for United States Senator fol- 
lowing the election of 1908, but was defeated by Benjamin F. 
Shively. At the State convention in 19 10, he was the unani- 
mous choice of that body for the Senatorship to succeed 
Senator Beveridge. He has never been a man who forced 
his own personality on the party in search of honor or emolu- 
ment, but is content to assist in bearing the burden of party 
fealty. If elected to the United States Senate, he will grace 
that body with a political righteousness quite in keeping 
with the traditions of the upper House of Congress. 

Mr. Kern is a man of strong individuality, fully six feet 
tall, and straight as an arrow. His hair and beard were 
originally as black as a raven. They are now sprinkled with 
gray. He is a man of close and lasting friendships. Some 
of his most intimate associates in Indiana are those whom he 
has antagonized most in the political arena. When he was 
nominated for Vice-President at Denver, thousands of his 
friends and neighbors from Indianapolis, irrespective of 
pohtical affiliations, welcomed him on his arrival at the Union 
station, giving him a cordial reception, which showed their 
admiration and love for the man as a man, but not necessarily 
as the candidate for the second office in the United States. 

[256] 



JOHN W. KERN 

His neighbor, Vice-President Fairbanks, led the home demon- 
stration. It was a good old-fashioned home gathering of 
neighbors, which, in itself, was a tribute from the heart. 
There never was a time when John W. Kern was not regarded 
as a well-dressed man. It would seem that he is particular 
upon this point. He is not foolishly fastidious, but sufficiently 
so to meet every requirement demande'd by the rules govern- 
ing such things. He is not the man to give offense pur- 
posely. What he may say in the heat of political debate 
concerning his poh'tical opponent is done for party advan- 
tage and not intended to reflect upon the personal standing of 
the one spoken of. Mr. Kern has a fund of excellent humor. 
Sometimes he scores strong political points by telling a humor 
ous story. It is not believed he has any particular hobbies. 
He has a fondness for those things that most usually interest 
men of his class and calling. He prefers living a life of sim- 
plicity and without ostentation. He is modest in everything. 
He seldom talks about himself, but finds keen enjoyment in 
sounding the praises of those whom he likes. 



[257] 




PHILANDER C. KNOX 

I'HIS is a successful man. At twenty-three he 
was Assistant United States District Attorney 
for the Western District of Pennsylvania, 
having been admitted to the bar the year 
before. Twenty years later he was chosen 
president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, 
and in 1901 he was appointed Attorney Gen- 
eral of the United States, in the cabinet of 
President McKinley. He remained in that station under 
Mr. Roosevelt, and resigned to enter the United States Senate 
as the successor of the late Matthew S. Quay. 

There is a popular belief that Knox is a "corporation 
lawyer." He would not be any the worse if it were true. 
We have estabHshed a standard of patriotism and of morals 
in this country that reads out of respectable political society 
any lawyer who ever held a brief in a court of justice with a 
corporation for a client. Corporations are artificial persons 
created by the law. They have rights as well as duties, and 
one of their rights is to employ legal counsel. An honest 
corporation lawyer is a public benefactor if he have capacity 
to see the law as it is and the courage to expound it as he sees 
it. Cheap, low, and disgusting demagogy has created a popu- 
lar prejudice against corporation lawyers, and there is no easier 
way to kill off an aspiring politician than to call him a corpo- 
ration lawyer. Unfortunately some corporation lawyers have 
prostituted their learning and their skill to enable dishonest 
corporations to evade the law, to shirk their duties, and to 
oppress the public ; but it is as foolish to judge all corporation 
lawTers by the conduct of these rascals as it would be to con- 

[258] 



PHILANDER C. KNOX 

demn all ministers of the Gospel for the conduct of the wolves 
in sheep's clothing who get into the church. 

But Mr. Knox is not a corporation lawyer, though no doubt 
he is profoundly learned in corporation law, as is every other 
successful lawyer of this era. The truth is that Mr. Knox 
made his way to the profession and gained his reputation at 
the bar through his learning and skill in the conduct of cases for 
individuals against corporations. The corporations of Penn- 
sylvania had Watson, of Pittsburg, and Johnson, of Phila- 
delphia, on their staff, and they didn't need Klnox; and it was 
against these Knox contended, frequently successfully con- 
tended, and the dockets of Pennsylvania courts, superior and 
inferior, evidence it. There is not a hot-gospel orator in Amer- 
ican politics who has done the corporations a tithe of the 
injury Philander C. Knox has meted out to them. 

In the front rank of the elite of the bar that produced 
Jeremiah S. Black, Alexander K. Dallas, William B. Read, 
Benjamin H. Brewster, and the great Judge Gibson, President 
McKJnley drafted Knox to be a successor of Pinkney, Taney, 
Wirt, Gushing, Olney, Harmon, and other luminaries of the 
American Bar who have filled the place of legal adviser to the 
American E.xecutive. 

When John Sherman made the anti-trust law he declared 
that it w^as all the Gonstitution would stand. At that time 
most Democrats thought it was more than the Gonstitution 
could stand. A quarter of a century ago a search warrant 
would not have discovered a single Democrat who would have 
pronounced the thing constitutional. Mr. Gleveland did not 
believe it was constitutional. The three Democratic judges 
on the Supreme Bench decided against the contention of Knox 
when the judgment was made. It is the most radical sort of 
"government by construction," and if persisted in and car- 
ried to its logical conclusion it is but a question of time when 
the reserved sovereignty of the States will be utterly annihilated. 
But it is the only way now, and the leaders of the two parties, 

[259] 



130 FEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

Roosevelt and Bryan, are convinced that it is not at all drastic 
enough. 

Be that as it may, history records that John Sherman and 
Philander C. Knox are our greatest trust-busters. Sherman 
made the gun, Kjiox loaded and fired it and put J. Pierpont 
Morgan and James J. Hill in his game bag. 

Mr. Knox's service in the Senate was short, but he stood 
among the leaders of that body. He participated in the dis- 
cussion of the Rate Bill, and added much to his already great 
reputation, and it was even said that he conceived and drafted 
"The Allison Amendment" that soHdified the RepubHcan 
party, all but Foraker, and that made the bill acceptable to 
all the Democrats except Morgan and Pettus. 

When Mr. Taft became President he selected Mr. Knox 
for Secretary of State, and in that station he has done much 
to assert the rights and dignity of the United States, and 
already he has earned the title of great Secretary, as earlier 
he was known as great Attorney General. 



[260] 




ROBERT M. LAFOLLETTE 

^HE FER\'OR that gave sinews to the purposes 
of Savonarola, that strengthened Galileo, 
lives in Senator Robert M. LaFollette, of 
Wisconsin. Many declare him a crank; his 
enemies make the point of insincerity against 
him, but all must yield him the due of inten- 
sity. This is the basis of LaFollette's char- 
acter. When he is done with a speech in the 
Senate, and has mustered against some point in legislation 
all the arguments of the radical wing of the Republican party, 
LaFollette's voice is choked with emotion; the expression of 
his countenance is drawn and weary; and he seems to be sunk 
into physical exhaustion. If one should for a moment agree 
that the earnest Senator from Wisconsin is insincere, one would 
be forced forthwith to acclaim him the greatest actor of all 

times. 

But ask the galleries. They fill in the midst of a debate 
participated in, perhaps, by the brilliant Beveridge, the thun- 
derous Clapp, the suave Aldrich, the knightly Cummins, the 
curt Hale, the scholarly Lodge. Then LaFollette takes the 
floor, and wandering attentions are fixed as by a psychological 
poniard. 

"Mr. President," he says, articulating distinctly. 

" Before the Senate proceeds to a vote, I ask Senators to give 
this important question their deliberate consideration. The 
people are tired of shifts and compromises, of legislation that 
must eternally be excused, of befogged measures that must 
eternally be explained. They are calling for definite, striding 
advances, not for dance-steps. Oh, Mr. President, while we 
are here we can make this bill so much better, we can keep 

[261] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

faith with the people so conclusively, that I am unwilling, sir, 
to let the work go half completed." 

And when LaFollette has finished, speaking somewhat in 
the above diction and entirely in the above strain, those who 
do not associate his famous countenance with his famous name 
demand to know who is the speaker; and those who do know 
him are conceding again that LaFollette is an earnest, honest, 
able patriot — above all, a sincere patriot — who is laboring in 
his own way for what he considers to be the greatest good of 
the greatest number. 

LaFollette, it must be admitted, loves a fight. I do not 
consider that any of his victories would have come to him so 
blissfully had they been won without sweat. As Governor of 
Wisconsin, working out in his own way the problems which 
Cummins was solving in Iowa and Hughes in New York, and 
which Harmon is solving now in Ohio, LaFollette had to 
battle for everything. As a boy he had to battle, too, for pos- 
sessions — from apples to medals for oratory. So he grew to 
love a fight, though not strictly for its own sake. LaFollette 
would not fight over trivialities. His critics say that he over- 
rates too many trivialities, but his splendid results are the best 
answers to that suggestion. When the stake is great, and in 
his opinion humane, LaFollette wants the fight to be so pro- 
longed as to give a clear idea of what the victory is to be. It 
seems to me that in Wisconsin he is called "Fighting Bob" 
LaFollette. Well, that is just. But when LaFollette is given 
a fight, and his splendid faculties are roused to their top value, 
he is an opponent extremely to be feared. 

Not the least winning factor in the case of LaFollette is 
his appearance. He has a bulldog face, with enough gentle- 
ness in his eyes and in his smile to take away the disagreeable 
portion of that type of countenance. His visage is crossed and 
barred with many wrinkles; his pompadour, palisading his 
high, broad brow, is famous in cartoon and story; his stature 
is stocky, very noticeable in a crowd, and there are evidences 

[262] 



ROBERT M. LAFOLLETTE 

of muscular strength about the set of his arms and legs. And 
in all and through all, there is intensity. LaFollette was the 
Danton of the Congressional revolution against the old leaders 
in the Sixty-first Congress. 

LaFollette is experienced in public service. He has been a 
district attorney, a three-term Congressman, a delegate to 
national conventions, a Governor, and a Senator. In a State 
like Wisconsin a man's first Senate term is in the nature of an 
experiment on the part of the electorate. Though LaFollette 
was engaged during the autumn of 19 lo in a struggle to hold 
his seat, he has stood successfully for his principles, and the 
people of his State in him have contributed to national affairs 
and to the public need a man who does things, a man of 
ability and character. 



[263] 




JOHN E. LAMB 

NATIVE of Indiana. Born on the Wabash, 
near Terre Haute. The architect of his 
own fortune. He had no rich or influential 
relatives to start him on his career. After 
passing through the various graded schools 
of his native city, he took up the study of law 
in the office of Daniel W. Voorhees, being 
a protege of that distinguished gentleman, 
who had for a number of years been a Representative in Con- 
gress, later a Senator — in fact, one of the leading members of the 
Democratic party in the country. Young Lamb, for he was not 
more than twenty years of age when he was admitted to prac- 
tice his profession, entered the pohtical arena almost at the 
beginning of his professional career. He was appointed by 
Thomas A. Hendricks, then Governor, to the position of prose- 
cuting attorney, which office had become vacant, and could 
not be filled, except by appointment, until the next regular 
election. Mr. Lamb was not long in this position until he 
was spreading his pohtical influence over at least two counties, 
which made up his official circuit. From the beginning, he 
was a loyal and devoted friend of Senator Voorhees, remain- 
ing so until the day of the latter's death. His devotion to his 
preceptor, partner, and friend marks one of his strongest 
characteristics — loyalty. He was the law partner of Senator 
Voorhees for more than twenty years. He is aggressive, 
positive, fearless, and, at the same time, conservative, although 
he believes when the time comes to strike, the correct thing 
to do is to hit hard, and with unerring aim. This has been 
his custom in politics. He is a loyal friend and an honorable 
antagonist. By the turning of the pohtical wheels, it so came 

[264] 



JOHN E. LAMB 

about that while Mr, Voorhees was a member of the Senate, 
his young student and later partner became a Representative 
in Congress. While he served but one term, he was, by virtue 
of his intense personality, able to make a national reputation. 
He is to-day one of the leaders of his party in the State of 
Indiana, although he has not held office since retiring from 
Congress in the early eighties. His name has been mentioned 
frequently in connection with the United States Senator- 
ship, although he has never declared himself formally as a 
candidate. 

In personal appearance, Mr. Lamb is a gentleman who 
will attract attention in any gathering. He is smoothly shaven, 
usually wearing a broad and benevolent smile. It is not the 
smile of duplicity, but of sincerity. He may not be your 
political friend, but that makes no difference with him, so 
far as personal relations are concerned, unless there may have 
been some personal misunderstanding. In height, he ap- 
proaches six feet, given somewhat to stockiness, weighing 
probably two hundred and thirty pounds, but active, quick in 
movement. He is seldom seen without a walking stick. His 
ideas of dress are at all times conventional, yet occasionally 
an excessive fashion may obtrude itself into his general 
makeup. He is not unfriendly to the sometimes prevailing 
style of the broad-brimmed hat, whether it be the soft wool, 
the derby, or the silk, sometimes called, within the region 
of the classic banks of the Wabash, the "stovepipe." Mr. 
Lamb is known throughout his State as having a most remark- 
able faculty for remembering names and faces. There was 
a time when it was said of him that he knew by name every 
man, woman, and child in the city of Terre Haute, where there 
is a population of about thirty thousand. In a poHtical sense, 
the remembering of names and faces has been one of Mr. 
Lamb's chief assets. 

He is a good story-teller, and likewise a good listener, when 
interesting stories are told. He is temperate in his habits. 

[ 265 ] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

From observing his personal appearance, one might imagine 
his being associated with some large institution having for 
its principal duty to mankind that of dispensing philanthropy. 
He has a fine, clear complexion, rather large nose, conspicuous 
teeth, because of their whiteness, light blue eyes, and light 
hair. As a public speaker, Mr. Lamb is in his element. He 
likes the political forum because it provides him with that 
kind of excitement for which he is best fitted by nature. His 
speeches are of the convincing kind, notwithstanding they 
may be extremely partisan when delivered in the heat of 
political battle. His public addresses show not only that he 
has given thought to his subjects, but he is not unmindful of 
the effect and necessity for grace in diction. In politics, Mr. 
Lamb is an ardent Democrat, so ardent, in fact, that nothing 
could change his behef in the doctrines of government as 
announced by Thomas Jefferson or Samuel J. Tilden. Mr. 
Lamb is a leader of men, not a follower. His greatest tri- 
umphs have taken place usually in Democratic State con- 
ventions, where for the past twenty-five years he has been 
a prominent factor in directing the destinies of his party. 
There have been few platforms, either State or national, in the 
past fifteen years, in which Mr. Lamb has not had something 
to do in shaping the party's policy. One of his apparent 
greatest delights is the making of frequent trips through the 
farming district of his portion of Indiana. He likes getting 
in the small towns and hearing the country folks give their 
expression upon the political and other leading topics of the 
time. It is from this class, Mr. Lamb says, that he gets his 
best ideas, thereby getting his ear to the political ground, 
as it were. 



[266] 




HENRY CABOT LODGE 

ENATOR LODGE alone, perhaps, of all 
the men in public life at the time this book 
is issued, merits the title of "the scholar in 
politics." Frequently in the United States, 
a man who remembers his Virgil well enough 
to quote and his history well enough to cite, 
is termed a scholar. But Lodge belongs to 
that more exalted class the members of 
which excel equally in separate lines of endeavor. As a 
statesman, he is one of the leaders in the nation to-day; as 
a writer, scholar, and student, he is notable. The Senate of 
the United States welcomes him to its counsels as a keen 
debater, a man of correct judgment, a committee worker of 
skill and ardor, and a leader of sagacity and virtue. Harvard 
College knows him in her sessions of sweet, silent thought as 
an able historian and a man with a feeling for the fine things 
in hterature. 

In the forum, Lodge is a Cicero: brilliant, keen, polished, 
authoritative, and compelling. 

In the library, he is a Plutarch, with a rich and facile style, 
a thinker and an observer. 

Lodge is full of the history of New England, from the 
noblest blood of which he springs. The Cabot in his name 
suggests the old seafarer and discoverer, and indeed the 
family of John and Sebastian is in his descent. The Lodges 
are an old and distinguished family of New England ; the name, 
Henry, suggests some of the bluff English stock in the family 
blood. More than any other man who comes to mind just 
now, Lodge represents the real American. 

He is a man approachable, and yet not easy to approach. 

[ 267 ] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

None would be ill-mannered with the Senator, because his 
splendid bearing, his nobly set head, and the achievement 
which shines from his eyes compel respect and courtesy. 
Lodge is tall and slight; he dresses carefully and in the mode, 
yet with a quiet elegance and correctness that few can effec- 
tually attain. His eyes are full of humor, deep and bright, 
and there is about him an air of elegance and ease which is 
difficult to set down in words. When he rises in the Senate, 
he is respectfully heard. His set speeches are classics; his 
occasional talks are full of authority, yet they are courteous 
and broad. In every sense but the objectionable, Henry 
Cabot Lodge instantly suggests a superior man, a member of 
a gentility which is alone found among the able and the great 
of this world. 

Lodge's commanding place in politics is not an unusual 
one for men of his type in New England and the South. In 
the Middle West, the West, the Southwest, and the Northwest, 
his class supplies the university presidents, supreme court 
justices, great preachers, and great writers. Their constituents 
do not consider Congress a field for their talents. But Lodge 
served long in the House of Representatives before, in 1893, 
he succeeded Senator Dawes as one of the two Massachusetts 
delegates to the upper House. Nor has the Senator been 
neglectful of the more boisterous types of party labor. He 
has been presiding officer of national conventions and chair- 
man of resolutions committees. And, however deep the 
feeling of the convention, the presence and the reputation of 
Senator Lodge have been sufficient to keep it in perfect control. 

In Theodore Roosevelt, Lodge found a kindred spirit. 
Both are intensely interested in the histories of their own 
nation and their own peoples. Both have thought and ob- 
served deeply. Both have a feeling for literature. That 
Lodge and Roosevelt should have written in conjunction was 
a natural outcome of their association and interests, and their 
book, "Hero Tales from American History," is a good book. 

[268] 



HENRY CABOT LODGE 

A personal friendship and association which has linked even 
their political fortunes has sprung up between the two men, 
and even now they plan to write another history. 

Lodge is a splendid force in public life. All over the United 
States he is looked to to maintain a dignity of scholarship and 
information in the Senate. The American likes to know that 
his representative bodies contain thinkers and writers who 
can be doers, too, and one— probably the first of these— is 
Henry Cabot Lodge. 



[269] 




NICHOLAS LONGWORTH 

Representative Nicholas long- 
worth, of Cincinnati, is an example of 
a rich young man who, instead of electing to 
become a snob, a spendthrift, a useless citizen, 
^ and an idler, chose to devote himself to public 
duties with as much assiduity as a book- 
keeper must apply to his ledger. He was 
content to begin humbly as school trustee in 
Cincinnati, thence to the State legislature and to Congress, 
where for the first few years of his service he was looked upon 
with more good-humor than appreciation. 

But Longworth, who had applied himself industriously 
to public problems in Ohio, was determined to make of him- 
self a Congressman who could lead his party, and he studied 
his new place. In the midst of his service, he made one 
of the famous Taft party to the Philippines. On this trip 
he met and afterward married Miss Alice Roosevelt, daughter 
of the then President. His wife spurred his ambitions even 
further, and Longworth ever since then has been making him- 
self felt in Congress. 

Longworth likes Washington, as does Mrs. Longworth, and 
it is his hope to remain in Congress until he has reached the 
acme of his powers. At this writing, persistent plugging and 
an indifference to a public disposition to think of him as "Mr. 
Alice Roosevelt," or "Roosevelt's son-in-law," have made 
Longworth an expert of no mean rank on a question as impor- 
tant as that of the tariff. He is a member — and a useful one — 
of the greatest House committee, that on Ways and Means, 
and he is able to take part with an authoritative standing 
in any tariff debate. This achievement in itself is vainly 

[270] 



NICHOLAS LONGWORTH 

sought by Congressmen who have spent more years in Con- 
gress and on the planet than has Longworth. Moreover, 
there is every indication that his future will be increasingly 
bright, and that when he has taken his final place in national 
affairs, he will be known entirely for his own personal ability 
and attainments and with decreasing remembrance of his 
relations by marriage, the Roosevelts. 

Longworth has a most likable disposition and personality. 
No man in public life is more popular with the newspaper 
men of Washington and with the official personnel of the 
Capital. Whatever may be the type of the gathering. Long- 
worth agrees with it perfectly, and smoothly adjusts himself to 
its demands. His presence at the National Press Club is one 
of the most welcome in Washington, and his wit and capacity 
for entertaining make him a necessary member of all merry 
gatherings in the Capital. 

Get up in the House gallery and pick out the three baldest 
men on the floor. One will be Ollic James, of Kentucky; 
another Denby, of Michigan; the third, Longworth. You 
can tell him from Denby and James because he is about one- 
third the size of either. Longworth is well-groomed, always 
one of the best-dressed men in Washington. He is of middle 
height; his complexion is bright and clear; his address ex- 
tremely courteous and graceful, and he is the possessor of a 
pleasingly manly and muscular figure. 

He is one of the best-known men in the United States, 
and when women in the galleries begin pointing him out 
too noticeably and whisper about him audibly as— you can- 
not break them of it— "Alice Roosevelt's husband," he is 
capable of flushing the most imperial purple of any man in 
the nation. 



[271] 




WILLIAM A. McADOO 

KJILDER of the Hudson tunnels. To be 
more explicit, it was Mr. McAdoo who car- 
ried into execution the great undertaking of 
constructing tunnels under the Hudson River 
from the New Jersey side to New York. 
After the completion of one set of tunnels, he 
proceeded to build another set. He did not 
stop, however, at merely digging two beneath 
the river, but he continued the tubes on under the city until 
he reached the very center of that great municipality. He 
has perfected so complete a system of underground tubes that 
he has practically changed the map of New York City and a 
part of New Jersey. He has made it possible to pass from 
Jersey City to Twenty-third Street and Broadway, New York, 
in less than ten minutes. Previous to the accomplishment of 
Mr. McAdoo's enterprise, it required oftentimes more than 
a half-hour. Mr. McAdoo is a new factor in affairs in and 
about the city of New York. He has accomplished in five 
years what other men, so-called captains of industry, had 
been talking about doing for twenty-five years. For a third 
of a century, or more, one of the great problems incident to 
quick transit from the great center of population to the more 
rural districts of New Jersey occupied the minds of many 
of New York's most enterprising citizens. The question of 
tunneling the river was often discussed, but some of the 
''wise ones" said it could not be done, although similar feats 
of engineering had been performed in other countries, especially 
the construction of tunnels under the river Thames, at London. 
For more than twenty years, it was the plan of some enterpris- 
ing New Yorkers to construct bridges across the Hudson River. 
In fact, Congress passed a bill in the early nineties providing 

[272] 



WILLIAM A. McADOO 

for this very thing. But the water transportation interests 
made so vigorous a protest the scheme was abandoned. It 
remained for Mr. McAdoo to be the real force in carrying to 
completion the idea of the construction of tunnels. 

Mr. McAdoo is not a native of the city of New York. He 
had never been in that metropohtan community until about 
ten years before he began putting into effect his tunnel plans. 
He hails from the State of Georgia. He was born at Athens, 
in that commonwealth, where is located the State university. 
It was there that he received his higher education, though 
completing his course as a civil engineer in more technical 
schools. He had not been long in New York, where he had 
become a resident to practice his profession, before he began 
a systematic study of the needs of new, more modern, and bet- 
ter transit facihties in every way. The tunnel idea was not 
original with him, but he was the one who, by his force and 
energy, organized a company and went to work. For a time 
he found it up-hill business to interest capital. More than 
half he approached on the subject, and they were New York 
business men, said it was impracticable, and could not be done. 
This did not daunt young McAdoo. He said it could be done, 
and it would be done. He now has four tubes under the river, 
two extending from Jersey City to Hoboken, with a system 
of tubes on the New York side to Twenty-third Street and 
Sixth Avenue. It will not be long until this line will be 
completed to Thirty-fourth Street, and from there he pro- 
poses building two more tubes from the point where Broad- 
way crosses Sixth Avenue to the Grand Central Station in 
Forty-second Street. This will make, when completed, a com- 
bined system, including all parallel tubes, of almost twenty 
miles. This, in fact, covers a greater distance than was 
originally intended by the city of New York when it began 
building its first subway. Mr. McAdoo has built separate 
tubes to accommodate trains passing in opposite directions. 
He adopted the system which prevailed in London, when the 

i8 [273] 



130 PEN PICTUERS OF LIVE MEN 

construction of new underground railways was taken up in that 
city some twelve or fifteen years ago. They are almost noise- 
less, and operated upon a plan far superior to that of any other 
transit corporation in the United States. Mr. McAdoo's acts 
testify to his enterprise. If there is, or ever has been, a public 
benefactor of the city of New York and its surroundings, it is 
this young Georgian. He has asked no municipal aid. All 
he did ask for was the right to carry his plans into execution. 
He did the rest. 

Mr. McAdoo has more the appearance of a great big boy 
than one would think of finding in a man who had accom- 
plished so much in so little time. The majority of the real 
big, brainy men of the world are, as a general thing, modest. 
But it is not believed it would be possible to find one who is 
more so than this builder of the Hudson tunnels. He is so 
modest that he is actually bashful. When his first tunnels were 
completed, there was much printed about it in the New York 
newspapers. Many of the writers persisted in referring to 
them as the "McAdoo tunnels." This was not pleasing to 
him. He called before him several of the controlling editors 
and made a personal request that his name be not mentioned 
in connection with the matter, but that they be known always 
as the "Hudson tunnels." Mr. McAdoo does not appear 
to be more than thirty-five years of age, although he is prob- 
ably forty-two. He is known to have a most equable temper. 
He seldom, if ever, is known to show any particular anger. 
He has a pleasing smile for everybody, friend or stranger. 
Naturally he is a busy man, but never too much engaged to 
see a friend from Georgia, no matter what may be the occa- 
sion of the -sdsit. He finds time for recreation. Work, with 
him, is seemingly a pastime, so easily does he accomplish it 
and so well equipped is he for anything he undertakes. He 
cares very Httle for dress. Mr. McAdoo is certainly one of 
the young men of the country who has done things. New 
Yorkers owe him more than they will ever be willing to pay. 

[274] 




JAMES McCREA 

'resident of the Pennsylvania Railroad- 
Few men have begun lower down on the 
ladder and climbed to a higher altitude in the 
affairs of the country than has Mr. McCrea. 
He is a native of Philadelphia, and when 
quite young took service with the surveying 
corps of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which 
at that period was not so formidable a high- 
way of steel as it has since become. He carried the chain 
and rod for the surveyors. During some four or five years 
of service in this department, he became quite proficient as a 
manipulator of the compass. This was his introduction into the 
affairs of railways. It was not long until he became attached to 
the operating department, reaching the highest position on the 
road in the movement of trains. For a long time he was 
superintendent of the division between New York and Phila- 
delphia. At an early point in his career he attracted the 
attention of such giants as George B. Roberts and Frank 
Thomson, both of whom, in time, became president of that 
great system. After having served with distinction and 
fidelity in the operating branch of the service, he was pro- 
moted by being made manager of the Pennsylvania Lines 
West of Pittsburg, comprising then some two or three thousand 
miles of road. His brilliant administration of affairs in the 
Middle West gave him distinction second to none in that sec- 
tion. He at once became a power in railway circles. It was 
eminently fitting that upon the death of Alexander J. Cassatt, 
president of the entire Pennsylvania system, Mr. McCrea should 
be elected by the board of directors as his successor. It was a 
difficult task, requiring unusual abihty, to become the successor 

[275] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

of so eminent a man as Mr. Cassatt, who, without doubt, was 
the ablest railroad manager America has ever known. It will 
be a long time before his like will be seen again. Mr. McCrea 
has, it would seem, come up to every expectation of those 
who had confidence in his ability when he was chosen to 
preside over the destinies of the entire system. 

At the time Mr. McCrea became the head of the corpora- 
tion, he was compelled to take up the unfinished work of Mr. 
Cassatt, which was colossal in its scope, embracing the con- 
struction of great tunnels under the Hudson River, the city 
of New York, and under the East River to Long Island, includ- 
ing the finishing of the great new Union Station in New York, 
which, when finished, it is believed, will be the most complete 
and the most costly railway station in either America or 
Europe. These great improvements, however, were by no 
means all that Mr. Cassatt had in contemplation and in 
progress at the time of his death. So quickly has Mr. McCrea 
not only grasped but mastered the intricacies of the situation, 
that he ranks to-day, probably, next to Mr. Cassatt as a 
railway manager, not alone of gigantic intellect, but of great 
powers of execution. 

Mr. McCrea is in the full vigor of active manhood, though 
having passed his sixtieth milestone but a few years ago. 
His life has been one of the finest illustrations of energy that 
can be cited. He is proud of the fact that he has made him- 
self what he is by his indomitable will power and limitless 
ambition. It is said of him that when a stripling of a lad, 
carrying the surveyor's rod in the mountains of western Penn- 
sylvania, he always had in mind that nothing short of the pres- 
idency of the road would satisfy him. This seemed to be the 
goal of his ambition, and it would appear he had reached it 
\vithout any particular effort. After once getting the swing 
of affairs, he fitted into every place he was asked to occupy. 
It is not believed that Mr. McCrea has been absent from any of 
his duties during a long service of more than forty years for a 

[276] 



JAMES McCREA 

period greater than three years out of all that time. He has 
never found much time for recreation. Mr. McCrea spends 
much of his time in travehng over the entire system from 
New York to Chicago and St. Louis. His private car is 
likely to be found in any station at any time. In this way, 
he keeps himself in personal touch with everything that is 
going on. What time he has been able to take from\usiness 
he has spent mostly in travel through Europe. In his eariy 
manhood he was at school for a while in Germany, giving 
most of his time to the study of civil engineering This 
served him well later in life. There is nothing about the 
managmg of a railway from finance to mechanism with which 
he is not familiar. He knows every branch of the service. 
He has been one of the pioneers in the adoption of all good 
appliances for the protection of human life, both to the em- 
ployes of the system and the patrons of the road. 

When taking charge of the Lines West of Pittsburg, Mr. 
McCrea was between thirty-five and forty years of age. He 
has generally worn a full beard, which was usually trim- 
med in attractive style, something on the Vandyck fashion. 
He has, the most of his life, worn heavy gold-rimmed glasses. 
His hair and beard are now streaked with gray, but Mr. 
McCrea looks ten years younger than he really is. He is a 
large, forceful-appearing man, who would attract attention 
m any gathering. His home in the surbubs of Philadelphia is 
one of the finest in that city. Mr. McCrea is one of the few 
really great men of the country who leave business afifairs 
at the office. He is not a man for show. He seldom has 
much to say except when occasion requires. He is always 
well dressed. He beheves that the apparel proclaimeth the 
man, though he does not dress flashily or gaudily with the hope 
of attracting attention, but apparently he likes to dress well 
because he can afford it. He is particularly fond of music. 
It can be said of him that he is a man among men. 

[277] 




JAMES B. McCREARY 

N THE United States Senate there are some 
members who could not receive the vote of 
their own fellow-townsmen for mayor. In 
the various States, there are many governors 
who could not secure their party's nomina- 
tion for the United States Senate. The 
House of Representatives contains many men 
who in their present place have exhausted 
their political possibilities. 

But when a man's own Congressional district honors him 
as often as he seeks it with election to the House, when his 
State makes him Governor and then United States Senator, 
that man is either uncommonly able, uncommonly just, or 
uncommonly fine of character. It is so with James B. Mc- 
Creary, once Governor, several times Congressman, and once 
United States Senator in his native State of Kentucky. To 
select for Major AlcCreary the single quality of ability, justice, 
or character, would be to eliminate the two others, and nobody 
in Kentucky would approve of it. He \vi\\ therefore have to 
stand in this book as possessing all three. 

There are no false poses or false titles about McCreary. 
His "Major" was won in the Confederate army. Elected 
Governor of his home State in 1875, he did not scorn to go to 
the lesser place of a Congressman when he was called to it, 
twelve years later. And it w^as probably as a Congressman that 
McCreary's clearest title to real leadership and fame \\ill rest. 
He was chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. 
It had been nearly seventy years since the proclamation of the 
Monroe Doctrine. This doctrine was that peace must be 
preserved in the Western hemisphere by force, if necessary, 

[278] 



JAMES B. McCREARY 

but that it must be preserved. McCreary had another idea. 
He believed that the nations could select a court of arbitration 
so distinguished as to make possible the peaceful settlement 
of international disputes. He entered into this movement 
with all the energy and enthusiasm of his character, and he 
brought to it all the experience and the earnestness of a man 
who had been a soldier, an executive, and a maker of laws. 

From the movement begun in Congress in a speech by 
McCreary have grown the court of The Hague, the arbitration 
commissions and the greater plan for world peace by disarma- 
ment, a method for obtaining the same result quite different 
from the martial utterance of President Monroe. But the 
world was seventy years older; the United States had become 
a world power that need not fear any other; and the bloody 
massacres of the Mexican and Civil Wars, the Franco-Prussian 
and the Austro-Italian Wars had taught the planet many 
bitter lessons. 

McCreary's distinguished service in this movement did 
not end when he was sent to the United States Senate. He 
became active president of the association to secure inter- 
national peace by arbitration, of which organization the 
President of the United States is honorary executive. 

After seventy years of his stirring life had passed, it would 
seem that McCreary might have found time to rest. He had 
shown himself a thinker, a lover of the fine things in the world, 
and it would have been an ideal realized had he retired to 
his beautiful county of Madison for an old age passed in 
reflection and in writing. But the helpmate of a long and 
beautiful domestic life had passed from the Major, and so he 
turned to his peace league to occupy his mind and to work out, 
as he hoped, something of real good for the world. He de- 
voted himself to this, and to what law practice he cared to 
assume in New York, until from out the stirring political lists 
of Kentucky, in 1910, there came to him a call to offer himself 
to the Democrats as a candidate for Governor. After much 

[279] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

deliberation and assurances, according to McCreary's own 
announcement, from 85 per cent of the party in the State 
that he could unite the Bluegrass Democracy, McCreary at the 
age of seventy-two entered the field. Whether or not Ken- 
tucky will elect as Governor in 191 1 a distinguished citizen who 
similarly served the State in 1876 remains to be witnessed. 

Gentle, courtly, sweet-natured, and kind, Major McCreary 
is one of Kentucky's really fine contributions to the American 
public gallery. His features are of the celebrated ante-bel- 
lum cast, cleanly cut and virile. He is smooth-shaven, as were 
Clay and Webster; his forehead is broad and high, like theirs; 
his mouth is thin and firm; and his hair, like theirs, is lank 
and sparse. He is of a trifle less than middle height, of sturdy 
stature, and all about the man there is a fine simplicity and a 
preferential reserve that entitles him a gentleman. 



[280] 




JOHN R. McLEAN 

JlTHOUGH John R. McLean is identified 
with finance, public utilities, and politics, 
his name is most associated with the Cincin- 
nati Enquirer, and that newspaper is the 
apple of his eye. It is \irtually his own 
creation, and its power to-day is maintained 
by his constant watchfulness. It is unique 
among American newspapers. Its peculiarity 
is the reflection of the newspaper enterprise of Mr. McLean, 
and its great success is sufficient proof of his ability as a 
journalist. 

Mr. McLean was born in Cincinnati, in 1848. He was 
an athlete in his younger days, a musician of fine ability, and 
a linguist. He received his education in Cincinnati, at Har- 
vard, and in Germany. Residence in France permitted him 
to acquire mastery of the French language, after he had 
become a good German scholar. 

Mr. McLean's prominence in newspaper life goes back to 
the early seventies. Upon quitting college he secured control 
of the Cincinnati Enquirer, one among the varied interests of 
his father, the late Washington McLean, and the Democratic 
Warwick of his time. As editor and publisher of The Enquirer, 
the success of McLean the younger was instantaneous. It 
is doubtful whether newspaperdom has seen a parallel to the 
brilliant stroke he, as a mere youth, achieved. Others have 
followed in the path he blazed, but none has met with as 
signal success as w^as earned by the youngest newspaper chief 
in the business, forty years ago. 

Seeing that the reading public was ready for a revolution 
in journalism, Mr. McLean discarded the antique methods 

[281] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

back to which the profession had drifted after the chronicling 
of the stirring events of the Civil War, and set to work to develop 
a new system of gathering and handling the news, and the 
distribution of it, as well. "Get the news," the familiar 
daily injunction, now took on a new meaning. For one 
thing, it meant that for several years every dollar that came 
in went out again on a new quest for news. Assembling a 
staff adequate to his purpose, and establishing a special 
wire service that tapped every source of information, leaving 
his competitors far behind in quantity, quality, and quick- 
ness of news service, Mr. McLean was able to give The 
Enquirer a lead which it was vain for his competitors to try 
to cut down. 

Mr. McLean promoted and popularized every forward 
step proposed in the interest of the large community com- 
prised in what might be called The Enquirer's confederacy, 
Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia. It was the 
formative age of the Middle West, and the people and the 
paper grew and prospered together. 

Mr. McLean had the knack of anticipating the wants 
of all shades of the reading public, and thus was able to meet 
their special desires. Wartime issues had drawn party Hnes 
so taut that it was a rare thing for Democrat or Republican to 
read the opposition paper. But The Enquirer's innovation of 
having a news story carry with it an intelligent presentation 
of its significance, shorn of partisan coloring, broke down the 
barriers, and it came to be said that as many Republicans as 
Democrats had got to taking The Enquirer. In effect, the pub- 
lic got the editorial along with the news, with a spicy coloring 
which still left enough to the imagination for independent 
judgment. It was a welcome change from the old way of 
printing blind and colorless reports of events, leaving the pub- 
lic in doubt as to the real significance of things until the edi- 
torial page, in its leisurely way, came along with the key to 
the mystery, and at that usually steeped in partisan brine. 

[282] 



JOHN R. McLean 

The new way worked a revolution that still revolves. One 
after another editorial page features gave way before the 
encroachments of news and advertising, until one Sunday the 
readers found but two lines of editorial comment to read and 
digest. The lone paragraph ran as follows: ''The Enquirer 
presents the news. You must skirmish for opinions." 

Mr. McLean's activities, however, were not confined to The 
Enquirer. He was conspicuous and influential in finance, 
politics, theatricals, sports, and kindred interests. Among 
other things, he looks back with prideful recollection to the 
days when his ability to hit and run with the best saw him 
on the line-up of the far-famed Cincinnati Red Stockings. 
Democratic in his friendships as in other ways, employes in 
every department of the plant counted Mr. McLean among 
their familiars. The ''front room," where "John R." held 
forth, stood open to all. 

Removing to Washington about 1885 where his father had 
preceded him, IMr. McLean engaged in banking and large 
real estate operations, but exercised a close supervision over 
TJie Enquirer by wire. This is the policy he still pursues. 

A later venture in journalism, prompted by an attack of the 
''fever," saw Mr. McLean in the New York field. Here he 
secured an option on the New York Journal, but shortly sold 
to Mr. Hearst, who had come East bent on finding an opening 
in the metropolis. Still later, Mr. McLean purchased into the 
Washington Post. He had not had enough to do to occupy 
all of his time. His manifold interests kept him busy during 
the day, to be sure, but he was lonesome at night. So as 
editor-in-chief and managing editor he whiled away the hours, 
in his earlier Enquirer way, until the stroke of two admonished 
him that it was time to go home for forty winks before show- 
ing up at his downtown office at 9 a.m. With Mr. McLean 
newspaper work will ever be a labor of love. 

The life of John R. McLean in Washington has been well 
spent in every way. He has been the gentleman at all times 

[283] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

and under all circumstances. He has been the head and front 
of all business enterprises looking to the beauty and progress 
of the city. He has also been the leader of all legitimate sports 
and amusements for the recreation, pastime, and pleasure of 
the people. He is a liberal man with his alms and a charitable 
man with sense and discretion. As a matter of fact, Mr. Mc- 
Lean and his most estimable wife are good angels to many of 
the poor in Washington, which speaks volumes for each of them. 
They have always extended a helping hand to those worthy of 
assistance. Without rich men like Mr. McLean in a great 
city much would be lost. 

Mr. McLean has been prominent in Democratic politics 
for years. He has attended national conventions as delegate 
at large from Ohio, and is a member of the Democratic national 
committee, representing his State. In 1885, he was the 
Democratic candidate for United States Senator, and received 
a flattering vote. In 1899, his party put him forward as the 
candidate for Governor of Ohio. The campaign was one of 
the most spirited in the history of the State. His associates 
and supporters were bitterly disappointed when he failed of 
election, but Mr. McLean himself was not disappointed in 
the least. His taste is for business and private life. If the 
truth were known, it would be found that he was pleased that 
public prominence was not required of him. 

In late years Mr. McLean has made his home in Washing- 
ton, where he has heavy banking, corporate, and newspaper 
interests. His summers are spent usually in Paris or at Bar 
Harbor. His home life is singularly happy, and no public 
honors could afford any attraction that would draw him from 
his family and social friends. Mrs. McLean, who was the 
daughter of Gen. Edward F. Beale, is a woman of rare social 
graces, and is very popular in Washington. The McLean 
summer home. Friendship, an old estate in the suburbs of the 
Capital, is the scene of much gayety during the season, while 
the city home, at 1500 I Street, Northwest, is one of the finest 

[284] 



JOHN R. McLean 

in Washington. During the winter season the guests at the 
McLean home constitute a register of society. 

Mr. McLean's only child, Edward B. McLean, has fol- 
lowed in his father's footsteps as a newspaper man. He is 
the publisher of the Washington Post, and is steadily fitting 
himself for the task of handling the great fortune to which he 
is heir. His wife, who was the daughter of the late Thomas 
F. Walsh, of Colorado, is possessed of beauty and grace, and 
the happy young couple rejoice in their baby son, Vinson 
Walsh McLean, who in his turn will fall heir to the com- 
bined fortunes of the McLean and Walsh families. 



[285] 




NORMAN E. MACK 

Proprietor and editor of the Bufifalo 
Evening Times and Sunday Times. It was 
Mr. Mack who directed the destinies of the 
Democratic party in the Presidential cam- 
paign of 1908, as chairman of the National 
Committee. Mr. Mack did not come into 
the world with a golden spoon in his mouth. 
He was born under the British flag in the 
Dominion of Canada. He came to the United States when 
a bit of a youngster, and in due course of time made his per- 
manent residence in Buffalo. His career as an editor and 
owner of a newspaper has not been exactly a bed of roses. 
Buffalo, it was thought by a great many, was supporting more 
papers than it really needed, when Mr. Mack established the 
Times. He, however, had a different opinion, and the success 
he has made emphasizes the wisdom of his judgment. Mr. 
Mack is comparatively a young man, certainly in appearance. 
He has probably had more than his share of the real hard 
struggles of life, but one would not be so impressed upon seeing 
him. He has a jovial disposition, always ready to do a friend 
a favor, and never too busy or too selfish to extend a helping 
hand to those who need it ; but woe unto the man who deceives 
him. This is an offense he does not forget. Nature appar- 
ently cut him out for a career in politics, though he has never 
asked to hold office. He loves the game of politics. He is 
not the kind of man who would willingly get into the political 
mire, but if the candidate whose cause he is championing were 
to get down into the mud and beckon Mr. Mack to follow 
him, the chances are the Buffalo editor would get in the mud 
with him. Mr. Mack might seem, from his brisk and ener- 

[286] 



NORMAN E. MACK 

getic movements, to be a man inclined to jump at conclu- 
sions. This, however, is not the case. He thinks well before 
he acts. He is a quick talker, but doesn't waste words. 

Mr. Mack has for several years been an important factor 
in the politics of western New York, so much so, in fact, that 
Mr. Bryan selected him as the chairman of the National 
Committee. He is a good money-maker, knows full well the 
value of a dollar, though he is quite free in the expenditure of it. 
In stature Mr. Mack is not a large man, nor is he a small man. 
He is what women would call a handsome man, though it is 
not believed he would himself admit it. He is always neatly 
dressed, sufficiently so to carr}^ the impression that he has 
made no mistake in the selection of his tailor. His clothes 
invariably bear the mark of being in accordance with the 
latest and most prevailing fashion. This includes all, from 
the tip of his toes to the top of his head. Mr. Mack has been 
fortunate in many ways, but probably the greatest fortune 
that ever came to him was the selection of a wife. He mar- 
ried Miss Taggart, of Buffalo, noted for her beauty and splen- 
did intellectuality. 

Mr. Mack is a man who likes planning big things. He is 
not essentially a man to look after details. This is particularly 
true in the management of his paper. He writes compara- 
tively little. He directs what he wants written and in what 
manner the subjects are treated. His one great ambition in 
connection with the publication of his papers is to know the 
trend of public thought — especially on lines of political and 
kindred topics. It is his best aim to print a clean, respectable 
paper, without resorting to sensationahsm, unless the matter 
to be printed is sensational. The question was once asked Mr. 
Mack as to the secret of his success; the community in which 
he lives recognizing him as a successful man. He replied by 
saying that he attributed his ability to get on in the world to the 
fact that for about eighteen years he had worked eighteen hours 
out of every twenty-four. WTien viewed from the social side of 

[287] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

life, Mr. Mack is in his element. He is a Chesterfield in his 
manners while mingling with the public, never abrupt with 
friends, usually considerate of all. There are times, however, 
when he ''raises the roof," if things do not go right, especially 
on the inside of his newspaper office. Every one who knows 
anything about the work of making a newspaper cannot be 
unmindful of the fact that there are oftentimes internal erup- 
tions that do not get into print. These "raising roofs" up- 
risings are carefully suppressed. 

One of Mr. Mack's unusually strong qualities is his mem- 
ory. He can tell, almost to the day, of great events of the 
country or of the world, offhand. He is a kind of encyclopedia 
when his editors are in doubt as to when any particular event 
transpired. It is a common saying of his assistants in his office : 
"Go see Mr. Mack; he'll remember." And so he does. Since 
automobiling has become faddish, Mr. Mack is well up in the 
procession of enthusiasts. Previous to the introduction of 
the new method of transit, he appeared behind as fine a pair 
of horses as was driven in Buffalo. He has a fondness for 
horses, and would, no doubt, continue riding behind them, 
were it possible for them to acquire the speed of a motor car. 
It is the fast riding that pleases Mr. Mack. Many of his 
political friends believe the time is not far distant when the 
party should show its appreciation of his services by reward- 
ing him with a high office, probably that of Governor of New 
York. He would not object to this, but he is not going to take 
chances in accepting a candidacy until he is pretty sure that 
times are ripe for a Democratic victory. 



[288] 




MARTIN B. MADDEN 

[hen Martin Bamaby Madden came to Wash- 
ington, early in the winter of 1905, to take a 
seat in the House of Representatives as Con- 
gressman from the First District of Chicago, 
he was accorded the unusual honor of being 
assigned to membership upon the Committee 
on Appropriations. Places upon that com- 
mittee are usually reserved for tried members, 
old in service. His peculiar qualifications to help hold the 
purse strings of Uncle Sam were not appreciated by his col- 
leagues. Criticism was freely expressed, and the wisdom of 
Speaker Cannon was seriously questioned, especially by those 
members who had served several terms, and coveted a place 
upon the committee, the most important in the House. Mad- 
den calmly took a seat at the great table over which the revenues 
of the Government are annually distributed through supply 
bills. He exhibited no nervousness, he shirked no responsi- 
bility, but from the beginning demonstrated that he possessed 
an accurate comprehension of the needs of the Government. 
Disinterested Congressmen and Government officials were 
at once impressed with the selection, and agreed that no 
favoritism^ had dictated his selection, but that in him the 
Speaker had given the committee one of its best members. 

Mr. Madden entered upon the discharge of his duties with 
complete confidence in himself. He became one of the most 
active members of the great committee, participating in all 
its deliberations. By his independence and sound business 
judgment he became conspicuous, especially upon the floor 
of the House, where he did not hesitate to express disapproval 
of appropriations which seemed to him to be extravagant or 
»9 [ 289 ] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

unwarranted. From the outset, frequently, he was found in 
opposition to Chairman Tawney. Upon his own side he 
quickly builded a potent following among Republicans, who 
accepted his judgment in matters which they could not per- 
sonally investigate in detail, and on the Democratic side his 
fights for economy won instant support. 

Madden is not given to oratory, and never attempts to 
carry his colleagues by flowery flights of words. He is an 
easy, fluent speaker, always sincere and earnest, and in simple, 
direct language presents the business questions involved in 
their strongest form. He is quick at repartee, and is a dan- 
gerous opponent in colloquies. 

For two Congresses he served upon the Appropriations 
Committee, constantly increasing in strength as a factor in 
its deliberations and as an influence in shaping legislation 
upon the floor of the House. Unquestionably his experience 
in the Chicago city council, where he served from 1889 to 1897, 
gave him a decided advantage over other new members when 
he entered Congress. He presided over the city council from 
1 89 1 to 1893, and was chairman of the finance committee 
from 1892 to 1897. 

Those were exciting times in Chicago. The gray wolves 
were stalking by day as well as by night, according to the 
newspaper reports, and cries of boodle filled the air. Madden 
as chairman of the finance committee was the most conspicuous 
man in the council, and upon him fell criticism and denun- 
ciation. The city was rapidly growing; large outlying districts 
were being annexed; large public improvement contracts 
were being awarded, and the city street car franchises were 
expiring. Opportunities for graft were daily arising. Through 
it all. Madden faced turbulent arraignment and accusation. 
Under bitter criticism he remained steadfast at his post, per- 
sonally aware of the utter lack of foundation for the charges 
against him, and confident that developments would silence his 
detractors. He has lived to see his thorough and complete 

[290] 



MARTIN B. MADDEN 

vindication. Among his most ardent supporters now are 
numbered those who in those days of excitement assailed him. 
The newspapers which then pilloried him now give him unre- 
stricted and hearty endorsement. 

The rise of Martin Madden has been remarkable. From 
water boy he has, by merited promotion, become presi- 
dent of the largest stone company in the United States. 
By burning midnight oil he acquired an education which, for 
diversity and thoroughness, is notable. He was born in Dar- 
lington, England, March 20, 1855. His father, John Gladden, 
a scholar of classics, had been professor of ancient languages 
in a Dubhn University, and his mother, Ehsa O'Neil, pos- 
sessed uncommon mental gifts and strength of character. 
Persuaded by relatives who had preceded them, the Maddens 
emigrated, reaching Boston in i860. They at once located 
upon a farm at Lemont, near Chicago. When six years of 
age, IMartin was sent to the pubhc school, and attended until 
ten. Convincing his mother that he could make better prog- 
ress at a night school which had just been opened, and which 
was better equipped than the day school, he secured permission 
to seek work. Underlying Lemont was Hmestone, now cele- 
brated, which was being quarried by the Lemont Stone Com- 
pany, and young Martin asked the superintendent for employ- 
ment. He told him he had been watching the men, and 
had noticed each one, several times a day, go for water. This 
imposed upon the company a loss of considerable time which 
could be avoided by having the water brought to the men, and 
he wanted the job. He got it, and his career began. From 
water boy he rapidly rose until he became president of the 
company. When eighteen years of age he studied law, and 
when twenty-two was admitted to the bar. On May 16, 1878, 
he married Miss Josephine Smart, of Downer's Corner, Du 
Page County, 111. 

At the beginning of the Sixty-first Congress Mr. Madden 
requested the Speaker to relieve him from further service upon 

[291] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

the Appropriations Committee. He knew that a new river and 
harbor policy was to be formulated, and as member of the 
Rivers and Harbors Committee he wanted to participate in the 
work. He also wanted to be where he could effectively promote 
the project for a deep waterway from the Lakes to the Gulf. 
He could not remain upon Appropriations and also serve on 
Rivers and Harbors, so he chose the latter. Many may claim 
credit for the legislation carried in the last river and harbor act, 
committing the Government to the deep waterway project, 
but those famiHar with the facts will tell you that no man in 
Congress was more instrumental in bringing it about than 
Martin B. Madden. 

He is a most indefatigable worker, is a master in hand- 
ling conflicting interests, has a genius for harmonizing dif- 
ferences, and when he undertakes a task he will carry it to 
success, if success be possible. Such is his reputation among 
his colleagues. To him is intrusted the management of many 
difficult legislative problems. During the heat of the fight 
over the railroad rate bill in the last session of Congress, when 
the parties were torn asunder, he became the natural leader 
of the more progressive element. He took a prominent part in 
framing the legislation, and his leadership w^as particularly 
valuable in the contest over physical valuation. He drafted 
a comprehensive section which commanded the support of the 
different factions, and produced an amendment which w^as 
voted into the bill when the differences seemed to be beyond 
compromise. It would be difficult to explain his methods, but, 
as in the case of the deep waterway project and other impor- 
tant legislative victories, he had the votes present when needed. 
His good work in the physical valuation fight was undone by 
the Senate, when the bill was in conference, but his marks 
remain upon the new law, and he proposes to secure legisla- 
tion requiring physical valuation. 

As chairman of the Illinois Republican State Convention, 
in 1896, he persuaded the convention to take up his fight to 

[292] 



MARTIN B. MADDEN 

have the word "gold" written into the financial platform of the 
Republican party, and it was largely through the efforts of the 
Illinois delegates to the national convention, Madden being 
one of them, that the Republican party was uncompromisingly 
committed to the gold standard. 

He saved his party from a grievous blunder in the following 
Presidential campaign. He was at the 1900 convention as a 
delegate, and wrote the plank in the platform pledging his 
party to the construction of an isthmian canal. The far- 
sighted wisdom of Madden was quickly demonstrated. Public 
sentiment at the time was in favor of the Nicaraguan route, 
but the Chicago alderman, gifted with rare judgment, saw 
that the Republican party should not be delivered over to 
any particular route, and happily he conceived the idea of 
using the word isthmian. He has since entering Congress 
been conspicuous in canal legislation, and takes a deep interest 
in the construction of the interoceanic waterway. 

It would require more space than is available to detail the 
measures of national importance which owe, in a large degree, 
their existence to his support. He has proven upon every test 
a friend of civil-service reform, of school-teachers, railroad 
and telegraph employes, and working people generally. He 
took a prominent part in the debate upon the last tariff bill, 
and has labored to provide properly for the welfare of aged 
Government clerks. He has not lost his interest in municipal 
affairs, and is fighting for cheaper gas and universal street-car 
transfers in the District. He was among the first of the men 
in Congress to introduce a postal sa\ings-bank bill, and consist- 
ently worked for the measure . until its passage was secured. 
Well informed upon financial matters, he takes the position of 
an expert when bills relating to monetary affairs are under 
consideration. He is at present president of the Western 
Stone Company of Chicago, and is a director of the Metro- 
politan Trust and Savings Bank, of that city. He is a most 
genial gentleman and has thousands of good and true friends. 

[293] 




GEORGE VON LENGERKE MEYER 

HEN the story of the early months of Presi- 
dent Taft's service as Chief Executive of the 
nation comes to be written, one long and 
interesting chapter of that work probably will 
appear under the caption: ''George von Len- 
gerke Meyer — ^A Surprise." 

Washington is a cynical city. It is half 
village, half watering-place, the seat of the 
Government without being the dominant city of the country. 
It is not to America what London is to England, Paris to 
France, Vienna to Austria, Berlin to Germany. 

Nothing is enjoyed by Washingtonians so much as a new 
administration. There are few regrets for the passing of a 
President. Washington grows accustomed to a President, 
then tires of him. It is always the severest critic of the head 
of the nation. Rarely is a President wholly popular in Wash- 
ington. The viewpoint is too close. 

Consequently Washington is always agog for a failure. 
If a man comes in with a new administration bearing a great 
reputation, and then fails, Washington laughs — and enjoys 
its cruel laughter. 

Late in the Roosevelt regime there came to Washington, 
as Postmaster General, a Bostonian. His name was George 
von Lengerke Meyer. Washingtonians had heard of him in 
the diplomatic corps. They knew he was a man of great 
wealth, and that he had been ambassador to Italy and after- 
ward ambassador to Russia. Social Washington learned soon 
after his arrival that he had an attractive wife and two attrac- 
tive daughters. Social Washington was delighted, since that 
augured well for entertainments and social activity about the 
Meyer mansion. 

[294] 



GEORGE VON LENGERKE MEYER 

Having learned this much, Washington picked up the 
threads of information and bound them together into a theory 
that Meyer was a dilettante Back Bay Bostonian, with lots 
of money, good clothes, and an experience in foreign capitals 
which assisted in rendering him unfit for a man's-sized job. 
That was where Washington made a frightful blunder. 

Cortelyou had just left the Post-ofhce Department when 
Meyer took hold. Everybody looked upon Frank Hitchcock, 
then First Assistant Postmaster General, as the real boss of 
Uncle Sam's postal service. But lurking back in the Meyer 
brain was a purpose. For years Meyer had conducted big busi- 
ness concerns in Boston. He was a bank director, had been 
speaker of the Massachusetts house of delegates, and under- 
stood business methods. Therefore he wanted to see a postal 
savings-bank system inaugurated. 

Later, when that question became a burning one in Con- 
gress and when President Taft made it an "administration 
measure," and fought for it until it was passed, people forgot 
its real author. It was Meyer. He started the movement 
and deserves the credit. 

Another public boon the people owe to Meyer is the law 
which permits one to put ten cents' worth of stamps of any 
denomination on a letter in addition to the regular two-cent 
stamp, mark it "special delivery," and have it handled as 
such. Meyer had this done because he had learned, in his 
business experience, the value of prompt postal service. 

But it was not until Taft came into the White House and 
Meyer became Secretary of the Navy that Washington awoke 
to a realization that the man amounted to something, after 
all. While he was in the Post-office Department Meyer did 
nothing to attract wide attention. He became well known 
socially, and he and his family were popular. 

Gazing upon him with its patronizing stare, Washington 
saw a tall, good-looking man, about fifty years old. He had 
dark hair and dark eyes. He was particularly well-dressed, 

[295] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

a man of culture and a gentleman throughout. The word 
"gentleman" is used advisedly in its application to Meyer. 
Washington began to be pleased with him, and was sorry, so 
sorry, when it heard that he had announced a plan of reform 
for the Navy Department. 

Now a reform in the Navy Department is one of the stock 
jokes of Washington. To accomplish such a thing one must 
hit the famous bureaucracy of the Navy Department. Many 
Secretaries of the Navy before Meyer had tried reforms. 
They had all hit the nest of bureau chiefs, all naval officers, 
and had bounced off. So when Meyer announced his inten- 
tions Washington smiled a sweet, sad smile and sat back to 
watch the gentleman from Boston "get his," to use a slang 
expression. 

But then and there was where Meyer furnished the sur- 
prise. Instead of being a social ornament, he turned out to 
be one of the neatest little fighters the autocrats of the "bound- 
ing blue" had ever had to go against. To begin with, Meyer, 
when he went to the Navy Department, began a course of 
study. He worked night and day during the spring and 
summer of 1909, the first year of the Taft administration. 
By fall he knew the naval game inside and out. When Con- 
gress convened in December, Meyer was on hand with his 
programme. 

When a Secretary of the Navy appears before the Senate 
and House Committees on Naval Affairs, he usually takes a 
naval officer along to do the talking on technical affairs. 
Not so Meyer. He learned the technical business himself; 
learned it in the summer, when everybody thought he was 
loafing. And he talked to the committees as one having 
authority. The committees were highly pleased with Meyer. 
They gave him a year's try-out for his scheme. That was a 
big victory. 

All the time the chiefs of the various bureaus, most of whom 
were rear admirals, at least, had fought Meyer with marked 

[296] 



GEORGE VON LENGERKE MEYER 

activity. Finally, Meyer called them in, one by one, and 
talked to them soothingly. He was gentleness personified, but 
he talked straight. Some of the admirals were good judges 
of human nature. They knew Meyer meant what he said 
when he suggested that certain changes be made. Those 
men remained at the head of their respective bureaus. 

Others guessed wrong. Meyer was so soft-voiced, they 
thought him weak. So they opposed him. They were not 
in the department long. Some went to sea. Others were 
transferred to na\y yards, where they would have fewer 
responsibilities, easier lives, and no Secretary ISIeyer to mis- 
understand. 

The main source of Meyer's strength is his common sense. 
For all his world-wide experience, for all his money and his 
aristocratic lineage, Meyer is loaded to the brim with that 
original and homely American quality — common sense. 

It leads him to be careful and slow to make up his mind. 
It causes him to hear all sides of a question before deciding it. 
Above all, it gives him that faculty so necessary in a leader of 
men or the head of a big concern, the faculty of surrounding 
himself with good ad\isers. 

Add to this an unexpected tenacity of purpose in a man 
of Meyer's personal appearance and general manner, and 
you have the reasons why he gave Washington such a surprise. 
After he had been in the Taft Cabinet a year and a half he 
came to be looked upon as one of Taft's strongest men. 

Foreigners liked Meyer so well they decorated him several 
times. He wears the Grand Cordons of SS. Maurice and 
Lazare, which he received from the King of Italy; the Order 
of Alexander Nevsky, from the Czar of Russia, and the Order 
of the Rising Sun, from the Emperor of Japan. 

Although he has little time for outdoor sports, Meyer is a 
crack polo player, and the best fancy ice-skater in Washington. 



[297] 




GEN. NELSON A. MILES 

llNCE the close of the Civil War, one of the 
more conspicuous officers of the United States 
Army. The career of General Miles is an 
illustration of what one can accomplish with- 
out a military education. General Miles, at 
the breaking out of the Civil War, was in 
business in Boston. He was among the first 
to enlist and march to the front. As time 
progressed he was advanced from one rank to a higher one, 
and at the close of the hostilities was wearing the honors of a 
brigadier general of volunteers. General Miles liked the 
business of soldiering. Though opposed to war for the mere 
sake of fighting, he knows wars are a necessity sometimes. 
Through influential friends then in Congress, he was trans- 
ferred to the regular service, first being placed in command of 
a colored regiment as colonel. The advancement of General 
Miles, from his first station in the regular service to the close 
of his brilliant career as Lieutenant General, holding the 
highest rank in the American army, should be glory enough 
for any man. General Miles had never seen inside of the 
West Point MiHtary Academy until after he had been in the 
service of his country for five or six years. 

Those of the West Point element in the service seem incHned 
to look down upon those who come up from the ranks, and 
this was the case with General Miles, because he was, as they 
said, "not educated at the war college." It made no differ- 
ence to him. He had learned the art of war and knew how 
military campaigns should be carried on. He proved equal to 
every emergency, and filled with honor every assignment given 
him. As an Indian fighter it is believed he had but 

[298] 



GEN. NELSON A. MILES 

one equal, that being General Crook. His campaigns in the 
West, Northwest, and Southwest, against the Indians, are part 
of the best history of the American army in the conduct of its 
internal affairs. It was General Miles who took the old war- 
rior, Geronimo, into custody, which brought about peace in 
Arizona and New Mexico, where lay the scenes of depredation 
committed by this warrior bold and his bands of Apaches. 
Whatever may be said of General Miles, it is conceded that he 
is as manly a man as any who have ever upheld the integrity 
of the American flag. He has carried it aloft on numerous 
occasions. It was never tarnished while in his keeping. 

General Miles is positive in character. He has his opinions 
and has never been afraid to express them, though he may 
differ with others more powerful than himself. He is not 
quick to arrive at conclusions. It has been the practice of 
his life to see both sides of every question. General Miles 
represents a type of Americans closely allied to those who 
carved out the future of the republic. There is solidity to it. 
He is methodical. He never loses his head. It is said to his 
credit, that he never disobeyed an order, nor failed in any under- 
taking given him by his superiors. 

At one time he had political ambitions. He would have 
gladly accepted the nomination for Presidency of the United 
States. Indeed, he was in a receptive mood. He was, how- 
ever, without any particularly strong party afffliations, thereby 
not having a "machine" to work with. The part he took in 
the war against Spain, was not as conspicuous as it would 
have been had he not been subjected to more or less humilia- 
tion upon the part of those in control of the political branch of 
the war office ; the service he rendered to his country in giving 
infonnation concerning the quality of meat furnished by the 
Government to the soldiers, took courage, in the face of the 
political pull of meat contractors. He bore the brunt of this 
affair with fortitude, and made good his charge. That he 
established the truth of his original assertion that decayed 

[299] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

meats were furnished the soldiers by Government contractors, 
there was never a doubt ; yet the commission investigating the 
matter wielded the whitewash brush with unusual dexterity, 
though it was not able to make a total eclipse of the high 
officer in charge of the commissary department, who was sup- 
posed to profit thereby. 

General Miles had the courage of his convictions in express- 
ing his opinion on the findings by the court of inquiry, made up 
of admirals, sitting in judgment as to whether Admiral Schley 
did or did not fight the battle of Santiago. The opinion 
expressed by General Miles, favorable to Admiral Schley, 
was the honest opinion of 95 per cent of the American people. 
For this he was publicly humiliated by President Roosevelt in 
the presence of a room full of gentlemen, when he was a visitor 
at the White House. This was an unprecedented affair and, 
as viewed by the pubhc, extreme in its coarseness. General 
Miles' gentlemanly conduct on this occasion did not fail to 
command the respect and admiration of all the people 
throughout the country. He knew something of the hard- 
ship of war, and knew a fighter by his record; and he knew 
Admiral Schley. 

General Miles is not bigoted. He is a broad-minded man. 
Now that he is on the retired list, he is devoting his time to that 
leisure he so richly deserves. He has been solicited by thou- 
sands of friends to write his memoirs, and it is not improbable 
that he may do so. There are few men identified with the 
affairs of the United States who could contribute more inter- 
esting and entertaining matter than he. He is never without 
a good word for those he knows. He is as loyal in his friend- 
ships as he has always been faithful to his duty. He takes 
much delight in riding horseback, and, by the way, he is one 
of the best equestrians in Washington. He has gone through 
many battles, and has never received a scar, though he has 
had some close shaves. Though reaching the sundown of a 
brilliant and successful career, he moves about vdth remark- 

[ 300 ] 



GEN. NELSON A. MILES 

able agility for one of his years. As a soldier, he was a strict 
disciplinarian. As a commanding officer, he was adamant 
in his demands for performance of duty, but never unkind or 
ungenerous to those under him. As a man, General Miles 
deserves to be classified with the best that America has 
produced. He is an honor and a credit to his country. 



[301] 




HERNANDO D. MONEY 

^HIS man is the last of the old South left in 
either branch of the legislative council of the 
republic, and when he bids farewell to public 
life, next March, so far as Congress is con- 
cerned, the old South will be a history. He 
is a typical Southerner, tall, slender, wiry, 
graceful, frank, open, manly, and brave. 
He is also a man of superior intellect and 
exceptional culture. Not so scholarly as Mr. Lodge, it is 
doubtless true that he is more familiar with the Latin and 
Greek classics than even the Senator from Massachusetts, 
and it is certainly true that he has delved deeper into the lore 
and the polities of many of the Asiatic tribes — mysterious folk — 
than any other man in public life. 

Senator Money was born the year the late Thomas B. 
Reed first saw the light of this world we live in, and was only 
twenty-two when the big war between the States was pre- 
cipitated by fierce quarrels between the Hotspurs of the South 
and the stern Balfours of the North in twoscore sessions of 
Congress. After a gallant career in the army, young Money, 
now a captain, resigned in 1864 because of injury to sight, 
and he is become almost totally blind. The Confederate 
authorities offered him a place in a "bombproof," but he 
rejected it, and preferred to produce bread and meat for the 
army; and thus the last months of the war he spent on a 
Mississippi plantation, the cotton fields of which he made 
corn fields and the forest of which he made swine ranges. 

Soon after the war Captain Money became the editor of a 
county newspaper, that he conducted so ably and fearlessly as 
to attract wide attention. He fiercely arraigned the carpetbag 

[302] 



HERNANDO D. MONEY 

governments that are now universally held to be the most 
odious and the most infamous ever instituted by one Christian 
people for the humiliation and the enslavement of another. 
Nine years after the surrender at Appomattox, Gaptain Money 
was elected a member of the Forty-fourth Congress by a Mis- 
sissippi constituency. It was the first denominative Congress 
that had sat in Washington in sixteen years, and it was an 
exceptionally able Congress, having for Speaker Michael C. 
Kerr, and William R. Morrison and Samuel J. Randall for 
leaders of the majority on the floor. Perhaps it is well enough 
to say that Ben Hill and Lamar were on the majority side and 
James G. Blaine and Garfield on the minority side. After 
serving ten years Money voluntarily retired, and remained in 
private hfe until 1893, when he was again returned to Congress, 
where he served until 1897, when, upon the death of James Z. 
George, he was elected to the Senate, of which body he has 
since been a distinguished member. 

It is a singular coincidence that among the leading Sen- 
ators two of the most brilliant are blind, and yet they are very 
busy men, performing a great deal of legislative labor and dis- 
covering splendid capacity for legislative business. Both are 
formidable debaters, and nothing escapes the vigilant scrutiny 
of either. Indeed, it would seem that bhndness is not an 
unmixed evil. The minds of the blind are concentrated on a 
given problem. Their thoughts are not so frequently diverted 
from the matter in hand. Unable to read themselves, their 
memories are necessarily disciplined to retain what is read to 
them. In forensic discussion it is as much genius to be able 
to mass thoughts on a given subject as in military combat 
it is inspiration to concentrate an overwhelming force upon a 
given point. 

Both the blind Senators are fine conversationahsts, and 
they are the more entertaining because of the rich stores of 
acquired knowledge laid away in their capacious minds. 
Daily having friends read to them from books, newspapers, 

[303] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

and magazines, their blindness affords them the better facility 
to digest and assimilate what they thus learn. 

Senator Money is the Democratic leader of the Senate, a 
compliment deserved for his capacity as a legislative gladiator 
as well as for the integrity of his character. Not since Thur- 
man's day has the Democracy in that chamber had a greater 
leader; but then Thurman was not only the first jurist of the 
Senate, but one of the greatest forensic debaters of our entire 
history. 

Senator Money is as ''sweet as summer to his friends," and 
his personal friends on the majority side number practically 
the Republican membership of the body. 

And, as observed, when Money leaves the old South will 
be known there no more forever. 



[304] 




J. HAMPTON MOORE 

Representative in Congress from one of 
the Philadelphia districts. Mr. Moore, though 
serving his third term in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, has advanced in position and 
influence so prominently that he is listed among 
the leading members of the lower House of 
Congress. Mr. Moore began his business 
career as a newspaper reporter on the Phila- 
delphia Public Ledger, when that publication was owned and 
controlled by the philanthropic George W. Childs. Many of 
Mr. Moore's duties as a reporter were in and about the courts. 
He had previously read law, which provided him with good 
equipment for newspaper work in that line. Later, he became 
an editor and a publisher in his home city. He was once 
Secretary to Mayor Ashbridge. Shortly after the department 
of commerce and labor was made a co-ordinate branch of the 
Government, Mr. Moore was made chief of the bureau of 
manufactures. He resigned this position to become president 
of a trust company, of which he was later the receiver. Mr. 
Moore took to politics with ease and elegance. He was 
president of the Republican State League of Pennsylvania for 
two years, and was afterward elected president of the National 
League for a like period. Mr. Moore had not long been in 
Congress until he achieved a high place in his advocacy of 
needed legislation relative to establishing deep inland water- 
ways. He is president of the association organized for the 
purpose of furthering this project, and has done more, prob- 
ably, than any other one man to bring the subject so promi- 
nently before the people that it is now made almost a 
political issue. It was through Mr. Moore's energy and in- 
20 [ 305 ] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

fluence that both President Roosevelt and President Taft 
journeyed down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers for the pur- 
pose of making personal observations of the need of these 
two great waterways. Mr. Moore has thoroughly aroused 
public sentiment throughout the entire country on this ques- 
tion, and it is within the scope of early future probabilities 
that Government action will be taken providing for the deep- 
ening of the larger rivers, thereby restoring them to their natural 
functions in the movement of the country's products. It is 
one of the most important questions that have been brought to 
the attention of the people for a long time — a question which 
means so much to producers and consumers alike. 

Mr. Moore possesses so many admirable traits of character 
that it would be quite impossible to enumerate all of them. 
He has reached his present position through his own indi- 
vidual efforts. He made a place for himself in the affairs of 
Philadelphia, and every position with which he has been 
honored and trusted has been filled acceptably to his friends 
and to the public in general. Mr. Moore came into being only 
a few months before General Lee yielded to the supremacy of 
General Grant. He was not bom with a golden spoon, nor 
was it even silver. When he reached man's estate, he went 
forth into the world to do things, and he has done them. He 
is tall, and a bit slim, bearing in some respects a likeness, in 
stature at least, to Wayne MacVeagh when that gentleman was 
about Mr. Moore's age. He is a man of easy manners, grace- 
ful in everything he does. He is likewise moderate in all things, 
and personally modest to an extreme. He doesn't go around 
making a noise, nor does he wear rubber boots. He is able 
to look squarely in the face every man he meets, which may be 
taken as good evidence that he is an enemy of hypocrisy and 
sham. What he has to say, he says in the broad, open field 
of publicity. He has made, and is making, one of the most 
useful representatives in Congress that the city of Philadelphia 
has ever honored with a seat in that body. His constituents 

[306] 



J. HAMPTON MOORE 

think so much of him that they show a disposition to return 
him as long as he possesses a desire to serve them. It is not at 
all improbable that he will soon be in line for the governorship, 
should his political ambitions lead him in that direction. 

Mr. Moore has been successful as a money-maker, having 
been wise enough to keep step with the industrial progress of 
the countr)'. He is a most generous host, and it seems nothing 
gives him greater pleasure than entertaining his friends. 
He has acquired some reputation in Washington, while a mem- 
ber of Congress, as a good after-dinner speaker, but only upon 
occasions when he is guest and not host. In the latter capacity, 
he has figured on numerous occasions. He has the happy 
qualification of bringing about his board congenial men — 
those fitting in with each other — thereby establishing harmony 
both in thought and speech. Mr. Moore likes music. He is 
a frequent patron of the theaters, caring only for the higher- 
class drama. When it comes to private conversation, he speaks 
with a charm that is pleasing. He has convincing methods, 
also. He is more inclined to persuade than to drive. He is 
not a trouble-maker. If he could have his way about it, all 
the people in the world would be friends. His bump of humor 
is highly developed. He sees the comedy side of life as well as 
the serious. Mr. Moore has a most remarkable memory. 
This he no doubt acquired when a newspaper reporter. Good 
reporters never take notes, and some of them seldom carry 
pencils. In his newspaper days he acquired this habit of 
relying on his memory, which he still retains; therefore he 
remembers even to the smallest detail a matter of business that 
might have transpired a long time since. He is as proficient 
in remembering names and faces, which, without doubt, con- 
stitutes a large part of his political franchise. In the matter 
of dress, Mr. Moore is always modestly but elegantly attired. 
He is familiar with the new fashion as soon as it makes its 
appearance in Chestnut Street. His preference for quiet colors 
is noticeable. Mr. Moore is one of the country's best citizens. 

[307] 




J. PIERPONT MORGAN 

^HE LEADING financier of the United States. 
Much has been said of Mr. Morgan, both by 
word of mouth and by the pubHc prints. He 
has been much in the pubhc eye for the past 
twenty-five years, and that he will retain his 
present position of eminence in the world of 
finance is evident, so long as he may wish it 
so, or until the end of his life. Mr. Morgan 
is a man who is not known personally by many people, although 
his ways are not dark, nor are his tricks vain. Mr. Morgan is 
made the subject of more than his share of adverse criti- 
cism. He is probably held responsible for many acts he 
does not commit. Because he has spent most of his business 
career in Wall Street, the yeomanry may not have a very good 
opinion of him. This may have had its origin in the fact that 
those living in the remote sections are not up-to-date in the 
methods of carrying on business in the financial center of the 
country. Mr. Morgan is a man who has the confidence of 
all the leading financiers of the country. He is also a man 
who controls vast sums of money. He has come to be known 
as the man who can produce the coin when industrial com- 
binations become financially involved. When it becomes 
necessary to rehabilitate railroads, managers desiring his help 
journey to Wall Street, with the hope of getting his aid in 
bringing about a reorganization. The word ''Reorganize," 
in these instances, has been changed to ''Morganize." The 
"Morganizing" of railroads has had a most beneficial effect 
upon several badly managed lines. This would indicate that 
Mr. Morgan is a public benefactor to the railway world. It 
is well to understand, however, that when Mr. Morgan be- 

[308] 



J. PIERPONT MORGAN 

comes identified with the financial affairs of a railway, he is not 
working in the interests of unadulterated philanthropy. He is 
not without having his eye set in the direction of good financial 
returns to the banking house of J. Pierpont Morgan & Co. 
He can see a dollar as far down the street as the next man; 
in fact, he sees millions of dollars where other men might see 
but thousands. 

Mr. Morgan was brought up in an atmosphere of finance. 
There has been money on both sides of him, front and back. 
No matter which way he may turn, he comes in direct contact 
with money. He is sometimes called, in Wall Street parlance, 
*' Ready Money Morgan." He is ever ready to finance any 
kind of a corporation, if there is money in it. It was Mr. 
Morgan who coined the phrase "undigested securities," pre- 
sumably referring to stock issues by corporations not pos- 
sessing dividend-paying powers. Mr. Morgan has taken a 
hand in helping finance the United States on two or three 
occasions. When there is a bond issue going on, Mr. Morgan 
is usually in the neighborhood. He has financed some of the 
South American republics, much to their joy and likewise 
to the proper ledger side of his banking house. Mr. Morgan 
deals in gigantic undertakings. There are thousands of busi- 
ness propositions submitted to him, which he dismisses in a 
few minutes. He, apparently, intuitively knows what will 
make money and what will not. He is probably the keenest 
observer of the financial affairs of the world that can be found 
in the United States. He is the intimate associate of all the 
leading financiers of Europe. The Rothschilds of England, 
France, and Germany are to those countries what Mr. Mor- 
gan is to the United States. In his younger days, he was 
taught the science of finance by his father, who in his day was 
not as great as the son has become, but withal, a man engaged 
in large financial affairs. Mr. Morgan was bom in the State 
of Connecticut, the home of the wooden nutmeg. Therefore, 
he is in every sense a Yankee, and the world knows the native 

[309] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

shrewdness of the Yankees when the question of money-getting 
is under consideration. He is a man of gigantic financial 
intellect. He is an honor and credit to his country. He has 
averted several panics, precipitated by irresponsible finan- 
cial jugglers. He has come to the rescue of the financial 
and industrial world when the wisdom of a big-brained man 
was needed. 

Mr. Morgan is recognized as the most progressive man 
in the United States in the advancement of art. His annual 
contributions to deserving charity will run into the thousands. 
He has always been public-spirited. He has searched the best 
art galleries of Europe for the most meritorious products of the 
leading artists. His influence in building the Metropolitan 
Gallery of Art in New York is commendable. There are few 
things of a public nature in and about the city of New York 
that do not find Mr. Morgan listed as one of the leading pro- 
moters. His contributions to the Episcopal Church probably 
aggregate more than those of any ten other persons in the 
country. Mr. Morgan is a man who makes great sums of 
money every year. He may hoard a great deal of it, but it is 
known that he is exceedingly hberal in the distribution of a 
large amount of it. He spends about one half of every year 
in the United States, and the other half in Europe. His firm 
has large financial interests in London, Paris, and Berhn, 
where branch banking houses are in existence. With all his 
vast wealth and his interest in a multitude of great under- 
takings, he is a plain and simple man. He is a great con- 
servator of time. He does not believe in wasting anything. 
He will transact more business in twelve hours than most 
men will do in three days. 



[310] 




PAUL MORTON 

^RESIDENT of the Equitable Assurance So- 
ciety. Mr. Morton represents the higher 
attainments in the world of progress at the 
present period. He is another of the strong 
men who have come out of the West to become 
the heads of large financial institutions in the 
East. Mr. Morton was born in Michigan. 
He is the son of the late J. Sterling Morton, 
for more than a quarter of a century the leading Democrat 
in Nebraska; so prominent was he in national affairs, that 
President Cleveland selected him for his Secretary of Agri- 
culture during his second administration. The son inherited 
much of the talent of his father. After finishing his collegiate 
course, he was given a position in the head offices of the Chicago 
and Burlington Railway at Chicago. His first position was 
an humble one, but he was not there long until he developed 
unusual ability in comprehending the magnitude of railway 
management. He was soon advanced to higher position, 
finally becoming general passenger agent, although the most 
of his time had been devoted to freight traffic. This demon- 
strated the fact that, while he was conversant with the freight 
department, he had at the same time absorbed the knowledge 
necessary to make him useful at the head of the passenger 
service. The advancement of Mr. Morton in the railway 
world was rapid, but not other than it should have been, 
as he merited all he received. At the time of the reorganiza- 
tion of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe system, Mr. Morton 
was invited to become one of the vice-presidents in charge 
of traffic. He had no sooner taken this position than it seemed, 
as if by magic, the earnings of the system expanded by leaps 

[311] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

and bounds. Mr. Morton was considered, at the time he was 
active in railway management, as having one of the most 
resourceful minds among railway managers in the Western 
country. 

In politics, Mr. Morton had always been a Democrat, the 
same as his father, until 1896. He possessed the mental 
equipment, in the opinion of President Roosevelt, which fitted 
him for the position of Secretary of the Navy. He was asked 
to take a seat as a member of President Roosevelt's official 
family, which he willingly accepted, no doubt making a great 
financial sacrifice, as he had to resign his connection with 
the Santa Fe Railway. His record as Secretary of the Navy 
is too well known to necessitate any extended notice here. Mr. 
Morton's services were again called into use by the directors 
of the Equitable Assurance Society, who made him president 
of that organization. When Mr. Morton had retired as Secre- 
tary of the Navy it was the purpose to make him president of 
the entire transportation system of the city of New York, 
which included the elevated, the surface, and the underground 
railway. Thomas F. Ryan was then a controlling force in 
this transportation system, and through him the office of 
president was tendered Mr. Morton. At about this time, Mr. 
Ryan also became the dominant factor in the Equitable 
Assurance Society, following the upheaval caused by a quarrel 
between the president, James W. Alexander, and vice-presi- 
dent James Hazen Hyde. Mr. Ryan thought it best to have 
Mr. Morton become the president of the Equitable, instead of 
taking charge of the transportation company. This was Mr. 
Morton's introduction into the insurance world. The record 
he has made as the head of this institution has given him a 
high place in financial circles. His administration has met 
with the approval of everybody concerned, whether directors 
or policy-holders. Mr. Morton is entitled to be classed with 
the progressive business men of the country. His career as a 
railway manager, his administration of affairs as the head of 

[312] 



PAUL MORTON 

the Navy Department, and his control of the largest insurance 
society in the United States have been of so high a character 
that he is in a class quite to himself. 

In a personal sense, Mr. Morton is an agreeable and pleas- 
ing man. His wants seem few, and his ways are comparatively 
simple. He is democratic in the good, old-fashioned way, yet 
he is a member of what may be considered the ultra-fashionable 
contingent in New York. He is strong in his likes and dis- 
likes, although never refusing to accord, even to his enemies, 
courteous treatment. When Secretary of the Navy, he was 
frank enough to admit that as vice-president and traffic man- 
ager of the Santa Fe Railway he had indulged in paying 
rebates to the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, which was 
a violation of law. Because of his integrity in frankly admit- 
ting the same, he was repeatedly commended, in private letters 
and public utterances, by President Roosevelt. Mr. Morton 
is a fine specimen of vigorous, healthful manhood. One of 
his most notable characteristics is his modesty. He is probably 
near fifty years of age. His hair is light in color and thin. 

He began getting bald when quite young. He wears a light 
brown mustache, in which there is no gray. He is about 
six feet in height, weighing probably i8o pounds. He is 
particular about his dress. He is seldom, if ever, seen in other 
than a frock-coat, and generally wears a silk hat. He is a good 
entertainer, and delights in having his friends about him. 
He believes in practicing, at all times, economy, acting on the 
principle that a penny saved is a penny made. He is fond of 
country life, and no doubt would if he could get away from 
his business cares, live the simple Hfe, far removed from the 
hustle and bustle of a great city. 



[313] 




FRANK A. MUNSEY 

Proprietor and publisher of about half a 
dozen magazines and four daily newspapers. 
Mr. Munsey is distinctively a self-made 
man. He came into being in a remote section 
of the State of Maine. There was no railroad 
in the near-by vicinity of the birthplace of 
young Munsey. About the first thing he did 
in the way of becoming attached to any 
particular vocation was to learn the trade of setting type in 
the office of a country newspaper. This proved to be the 
place where young Munsey began opening his eyes. He saw 
the world from afar. He looked into the mystic future, and 
made up his mind he was going to conquer at least part of it. 
He rode, walked, and glided, by easy stages, south along the 
coast of the Atlantic from Maine in the direction of Boston. 
Boston was a big and busy city in the eyes of young Munsey. 
His beacon light, however, was not in Boston Bay, but in the 
city of New York. There is where he said he would go and 
begin the struggle. He had no money of any consequence. 
He began the pubHcation of a small and inconsequential paper, 
which by degrees was developed, until it began attracting some 
attention. What is known to-day as The Munsey in the maga- 
zine world was at its origin Munsey' s Monthly. In time he 
accumulated some money, from which he soon separated 
himself, however, by purchasing the New York Daily Star. 
This he renamed The Continent, the first tabloid paper in 
America. He showed an adaptability for making a news- 
paper, and no doubt would have succeeded '•hen had he 
possessed more cash. He quit the paper, not being able to 
meet all the payments necessary, having lost about $40,000 in 

[314] 



FRANK A. MUNSEY 

the enterprise — all he had. He was defeated, but his courage 
had not left him. Back into Warren Street he went, with his 
Munsey^s Monthly, and his story paper, TJie Argosy, the 
proprietorship of which he had retained all the while of his 
daily newspaper experience. All this transpired in 1891-92. 
Ten years after his reverses, he had a net income from his 
publications of seven himdred thousand dollars a year. This, 
in a way, shows the kind of stuff of which Mr. Munsey is made. 
He was the first man in the United States to put a higher- 
class magazine on the market at ten cents a copy. Previous 
to this, the lowest price for any similar publication was twenty- 
five cents. Upon reducing the price of his magazine from 
twenty-five to ten, the volume of advertising increased, in six 
months, almost 1,000 per cent. The news companies refused 
to handle his magazine at the reduced price, unless he would 
furnish it to them at their price, which he would not do. He 
announced to the public the cost of his magazine to readers 
should be but ten cents. x\s the news companies would not 
handle it, he established his individual agencies in nearly 
every town and city in the United States. In less than three 
years all of the news companies were glad to accept his terms. 
He had whipped them good and hard. Having made so great 
a success of his magazines, he began the purchase of daily 
newspapers, being now the proprietor of one each in Washing- 
ton, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Boston. Mr. Munsey is 
a character quite to himself. It is not believed he has a 
prototype in the publishing business. In disposition he is ex- 
ceedingly changeable. Because a thing suits him to-day is 
no reason why it should please him to-morrow. What he 
builds on Tuesday, he sometimes tears down on Wednesday, 
but to rebuild better and in a different place or in another 
way on Thursday. Sometimes he is unusually hard to please. 
He is peculiar in his selection of men about him. One man 
may please him particularly well on Sunday, while on Mon- 
day he sees him from an entirely different viewpoint, and out 

[315] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

he has to go. He sometimes is given to changing the poHcy, 
form, and make-up of a newspaper over night. Upon one 
occasion, he transformed an evening pubhcation into a morn- 
ing edition after giving his readers six hours' notice. In a 
few days he changed it back again. Within three weeks he 
announced that he would sell the whole outfit at auction, and 
if no one would buy it he would give it away. This was a 
time when Mr. Mimsey was moody, and he does have moody 
spells, although he is not one who is particularly given to 
being "up in the skies" to-day and ''down in his boots" 
to-morrow. 

Mr. Munsey is an aggressive thinker and an industrious 
doer. His light is never hid under a bushel. He lets the 
world know what he is doing every day of his life through his 
many publications. He is fertile in imagination, and usually 
productive of excellent business ideas. He is not a man who 
ever becomes effusive about anything. He is a bit cold- 
blooded and consistently methodical. He desires seeing the 
brightest side of everything, and he usually does. He is not 
a profusive talker, though an entertaining one. He is capable 
of making a good speech. He is clear in his ideas, knows 
what he wants to say, and how to say it. He is a forceful, 
vigorous writer. He goes much in society, although caring 
little for it. He is unmarried and rich. He is popular with 
ladies, knows how to entertain them, and is not unwilling 
to be gracious in the expenditure of money for their pleasure. 
He is always well-dressed, a good observer of the prevailing 
fashions of the day. He was born when Franklin Pierce was 
President. He is a man of good physique, inclined to be a 
little stoop-shouldered. Has a clear, penetrating eye, and is 
able to look the world squarely in the face, as if telling it he 
"owes it nothing." He is growing a trifle bald. In his 
younger days his hair was red. His mustache is now gray, 
and trimmed short. He never relates his secrets to other men. 

[316] 




VICTOR MURDOCK 

PSTAIRS over the dais of the Speaker of the 
House of Representatives there is a gallery. 
It is designed for the use of the newspaper 
men of Washington. From the eminence, 
the proceedings and utterances of the House 
are watched by over two hundred more or 
less keen-eyed and clear-headed men. They 
represent the important newspapers and maga- 
zines of the United States. 

Sometimes these men grow so weary of seeing the public 
business carried on in a manner which they disapprove that 
they write articles in their papers telling how it should be done. 
Sometimes one of them, or his brother worker in the home 
newspaper office itself, is elected to Congress to put his ideas 
into practice. With exceedingly few exceptions, these news- 
paper men make vigorous, honest, and able legislators. And 
Victor Murdock is one of them. 

That name has been striding into public hearing of late. 
Murdock hails from Wichita, and he represents in Congress the 
Eighth Kansas district and the "Kansas Idea." This Kansas 
idea seemed to Speaker Cannon and his lieutenants in the 
Sixtieth and Sixty-first Congresses to be a disposition to make 
as difficult as possible the life of Mr. Cannon and his followers. 
To the Kansans and to Murdock it was the theory of Progres- 
sive Republicanism — and they declared that it aimed to bring 
back into practice the rights of individual representatives. 
Murdock asserted that he was not willing to obey blindly the 
orders of the House organization that he might secure favors 
for his district and committee places of importance. So he 
revolted, along with two or three other Republicans back 

[317] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

in the Fifty-ninth Congress, and from that time on he was 
anathema with the Speaker. 

Murdock is a sturdy, red-headed brother of considerable 
vehemence and a great deal of consistency, and in sun and 
rain, opportunely and at most embarrassing times, he insisted 
upon being what was then called an ''insurgent." The revolt 
did not make much headway, however, until the Sixtieth 
Congress, and Murdock was not an especially popular Con- 
gressman among those of his colleagues who belonged to the 
organization wing. 

In the Sixtieth Congress, an attempt to reform the House 
rules, which was the object of the fight Murdock and the 
other progressives had been making, was blocked by an 
insurgent movement on the part of certain Democrats who 
voted with the Cannon forces. 

The special session of the Sixty-first Congress, however, 
permitted the making of plans which were destined to take 
away from the Speaker much of the power granted him by the 
rules. During this session was framed the Payne-Aldrich 
tariff bill, and against certain schedules of this, Murdock, now 
reinforced by nearly a score of Congressmen, led a fierce attack. 
The bill was passed, and the regular session of the Sixty-first 
Congress opened with forebodings. 

Here Murdock reached his pinnacle. He was one of the 
three Republican progressive leaders who made possible the 
stormy victory of March 19, 19 10, when Cannon was ousted 
from the Rules Committee and the membership of that body 
enlarged. He was one of the nine Republicans who attempted 
to vote Cannon out of the chair. He carried progressivism 
to the point where he could always be counted upon to vote 
against the Cannon organization, because, to Murdock's way 
of thinking, the organization did not stand for popular govern- 
ment. After a set of victories, hear him: 

"The time has passed when a Representative must go to 
the Speaker, hat in hand, to secure the rights to which the 

[318] 



VICTOR MURDOCK 

Constitution entitles him. . . . Cannon and his followers 
represent the outworn and the unfair systems in government 
They are not only standpatters. They are standstillers." 

Murdock fights fiercely always. He popularized his 
movement, there is no doubt of that, and the summer follow- 
ing the long session of 1909-1910 he went to Kansas, and, 
speaking for the progressive cause, he was partly responsible 
for the refusal of the Kansas people to renominate Represen- 
tatives Scott, Miller, Calderhead, and Reeder, all stand- 
patters. For these Cannon made a tour of the State. It was 
a continuation of the House fight between Murdock and that 
old gentleman who seems to be his natural enemy, Joseph G. 
Cannon, of Illinois. And Murdock, in every fight, has Hved 
up to the prophetic promise of his name, Victor. 

Florid as to hair and complexion, Murdock has the type 
of stature which would be termed ''stocky," were it not above 
the middle height, and ''husky," were he not growing a trifle 
stout. He is smooth shaven, and there is more fight in his 
eyes and in the cut of his features than even his wariike name 
would indicate. On his visage there sits a wholesome, hearty 
evidence that Murdock possesses a brotherly sense of humor. 

What did the press gallery have to do with him? Oh, 
Murdock was managing editor of the Wichita Daily Eagle 
when he was elected to Congress. He was a printer's devil 
as a lad, a reporter at fifteen, and then on until he was well 
into his twenties. So the press gallery claims him. 

Murdock's profession makes it almost unnecessary to 
state that he is blunt and democratic, and likes nothing 
better than to meet, talk to, and be talked to by his fellow-man. 



[319] 




WILLIAM R. NELSON 

DITOR and proprietor of the Kansas City 
Star. It is the opinion of many of those who 
located in and about Kansas City twenty- 
five or thirty years ago, that had it not been 
for Colonel Nelson, there might not have been 
a greater Kansas City. This, of course, is no 
doubt an exaggeration, but it goes to show 
what Colonel Nelson's neighbors think of him. 
He became a citizen of Kansas City when it was young, and 
so was he. There were not many business houses, or even 
residences, on the bluffs or in the ravines when he established 
The Evening Star newspaper. Colonel Nelson went to the 
farther side of Missouri from Fort Wayne, Indiana. His 
father was one of the leading men in his section of the Hoosier 
State. It was in Fort Wayne that young Nelson gained his 
first newspaper experience. When a mere boy, he had the 
faculty of thinking and acting for himself. This character- 
istic was apparently developed to an unusual degree for one 
of his years. He had become inoculated with the western 
fever some four or five years before leaving the banks of the 
Wabash for the banks of the Kaw. Some thought he was 
going on a fooHsh mission, and that he might have to walk 
back. He was of quite a different opinion. He realized that 
Kansas City, then a growing but small place, was destined to 
become a large city, as it was geographically well located. 
When launching The Star, he had several fixed purposes in 
view. The principal one was to make the best newspaper 
possible, to give it at the very beginning a reputation for truth- 
fulness and fairness. He wanted his readers to understand 
that if they read it in The Star, it was the truth, and if it 

[320] 



WILLIAM R. NELSON 

was not printed in The Star, it had never transpired. That 
was the policy in its infancy, and is its policy to-day. Colonel 
Nelson has had his ups and downs, however. He is now one 
of the richest newspaper owners in the West. This, no doubt, 
is because he is more enterprising and has more newspaper- 
common sense than many of his rivals. He had to fight, 
however, for much that he has got. As editor of The Star, 
he has wielded an influence throughout Missouri and Kansas 
that stands for an individuality quite out of the common. 

One of Colonel Nelson's hobbies, if it can be classified as 
such, is his persistent desire for honest, high-class, municipal 
government. He gave several years of his busy hfe to this one 
subject, and in attempting to build up the kind of local gov- 
ernment which would reflect credit upon the better class of 
citizens, he was compelled to resort to desperate means, often- 
times, in ridding the community of some undesirable citizens. 
The metropolis on the banks of the Kaw is not unlike other 
similar communities, in being the possessor of some men of 
more or less grafting proclivities, particularly those who are 
members of the city council and board of aldermen. Col- 
onel Nelson at one time made it plain to this objectionable 
contingent that, unless there was more honesty in the admin- 
istration of municipal affairs, he would be compelled to make 
the matter so public through his paper that the courts would 
have to take cognizance thereof, and if this were once done, 
it would mean an increase in the numerical strength of the 
population inside the State penitentiar}'. The offenders 
seemed to know the same thing, and at the same time. These 
affairs, however, have been mere incidents in the editorial 
life of Colonel Nelson in Kansas City. He has done what he 
could to advance the fortunes of his city and State and his 
section of the Republic. He has seen the city grow from a 
small town to a center of population, which in a few years is 
destined to number close on to one million. It is not the city, 
however, that has done the only progressing. Colonel Nelson 
21 [321] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

has done his share also. As he has grown strong in power 
and influence, he has likewise expanded as the owner of valu- 
able property, and a great deal of it. He has one of the finest 
residences in the Central West. If it were located on the Rhine, 
in Germany, it would no doubt be pointed out as one of the 
greatest castles of that historic valley. 

Colonel Nelson is not only large in ideas and in the con- 
summation of huge projects, but he is large in stature. He 
wears about an eighteen-inch collar. His hair is quite gray, 
inclined to be a little longer than custom prescribes, but it is 
nevertheless becoming to him. The forelock is usually a bit 
unruly, and insists on falling over his forehead, sometimes ob- 
scuring his right eye. This, to some, may give him a ferocious 
look, likening him, in appearance, to the lion. But it is 
only in appearance. He is one of the best-natured men 
in the country. He never gets excited. He is never known 
to enter into any kind of a controversy, no matter what may 
be the subject which calls forth treatment by his paper, when 
he has not studied the strong points, as well as the weak ones, 
of the common enemy. That is where his superiority in gen- 
eralship has made him successful. He has never thought 
Kansas City would be the artistic center of the United States 
during his lifetime, but he has hoped that in the not too far 
distant future there will be as much display, public and private, 
of the high arts as is to be seen in any other section of the 
country. In laying out the grounds surrounding his beautiful 
place, he had in view the artistic. Colonel Nelson is imposing 
in appearance. It requires but a glance in his direction to 
recognize in him a man of unusual force. A few years ago, 
he bought the Kansas City Times, a morning paper. He is 
a master hand at printing two papers a day. The Times in 
the morning, and The Star in the evening. Colonel Nelson 
is one of the giants of that section of the country lying between 
the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. 

[322] 




FRANCIS G. NEWLANDS 

^ENATOR in Congress from Nevada. It 
can be said of ]Mr. Newlands that he is one 
of the most indefatigable workers in public 
life. It is rarely that he is absent from the 
Senate chamber when important legislation is 
pending. Mr. Newlands was for several 
years a Representative in Congress before he 
was elected to the Senate. When he first 
became a member of the lower House, or rather a short time 
thereafter, he invested largely in suburban real estate in Wash- 
ington, which he has developed into a valuable property. 
This, however, has not affected the value of his services as a 
legislator in representing his constituency. Mr. Newlands 
is a Southerner by birth, having been born near Natchez, 
Mississippi, going West when comparatively a young man. 
He was educated, however, at the Capital of the Nation before 
taking up his residence on the Pacific Coast. He adopted the 
profession of law, and when in active practice, young as he was, 
gave promise of becoming one of the leading lawyers of his 
State. Mr. Newlands attracted probably more attention on 
the occasion of his marriage than falls to the lot of most young 
men who are not blessed with large fortunes. He had not been 
long in his new home until he married a daughter of William 
Sharon, then one of the richest men on the Pacific Coast. He 
had large banking and mining interests in both California 
and Nevada. Mr. Sharon later became a United States 
Senator. The marriage of Mr. Newlands and Miss Sharon 
was one of the most pretentious, so far as the expenditure of 
money was concerned, that had been known in that section 
up to that time. Mr. Sharon was lavish in giving his daughter 

[323] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

a wedding that might have eclipsed in splendor anything ever 
attempted by the Feudal Lords. What seems to have been 
considered unusual extravagance upon the part of Mr. 
Sharon received much comment from the Eastern press. It 
is more than probable that social circles of the effete East 
were envious of the wealth being earned and displayed by the 
pioneers of the then new though productive West. 

Following the death of Senator Sharon, Mr. Newlands 
became the manager of the estate, which was large. In this 
capacity he proved himself to be a business man of high order. 
He has been able to increase its value several times over. Mr. 
Newlands is a conspicuous leader in the Democratic party, 
though by no means an unreasonable partisan. He is liberal 
in all things, particularly in his poHtical convictions. The 
people of Nevada have faith in his ability and his integrity. 
They admire him in terms stronger than mere words can 
express. If he so desires and Nevada should remain Demo- 
cratic, it would seem that Senator Newlands may remain in 
his present position as long as he lives. He is doubtless the 
most enthusiastic Senator in behalf of making Washington 
one of the beautiful cities of the world. His artistic tastes 
find favor with artists of recognized standing everywhere. 
He has given years of study to the best methods of so beautify- 
ing Washington that it will compare favorably with any of the 
capitals of the Old World. He has also ever been a loyal 
supporter of everything that was, or is, of interest to the people 
along the Pacific, or, in fact, any part of the interior West. 
Few men who have served any particular term in Congress 
are better informed than he as to the needs of the country, so 
far as Congress is able to act. He is strong in debate. His 
early training in the school of pohteness, so characteristic of the 
Southern people, made a lasting impression upon him. There 
is no man in the Senate more courteous than he. 

Those who have the pleasure of Senator Newlands' intimate 
acquaintance bear testimony to his many admirable qualities. 

[324] 



FRANCIS G. NEWLANDS 

He is of average height, of light complexion, and of suave, 
graceful manners. He is a man of wonderful activity, and 
appears to be at least ten or fifteen years younger than he 
really is; and still, he is comparatively a young man. His life 
has been a busy one. He was but little more than twenty-two 
years of age when he went West, and from that time to the 
present, he has been listed along with those who have been 
bending their best energies in the direction of better govern- 
ment. Senator Newlands may be, in a sense, an idealist. 
He is too practical to be a mere theorist. He is not one of 
those who think that if a thing has not been done, it cannot 
be done. He goes upon the plan that when a thing is to be 
done, it must be done. There is no better-dressed man in the 
Senate than Senator Newlands. His preference for colors 
seems to run to light gray. He has a fondness for frock-coats, 
silk hats, and white vests. Thus it will be seen that in dress, 
as well as in mental quahties, Senator Newlands is conspicuous; 
although in the matter of clothes he does not go beyond what 
is considered prevailing style, which, after all, may be con- 
sidered as within the pale of requisite modesty. One of Sen- 
ator Newlands' diversions is riding horseback. He has sev- 
eral blooded animals in his stables, and he takes much pride 
in their possession. He is an excellent equestrian, far better, 
it is believed, than former President Roosevelt. If Senator 
Newlands had been permitted to follow his artistic inchnations, 
he would, no doubt, have been a painter. He never tires of 
passing through the great galleries of Europe, when traveling 
on the Continent which he does frequently. 



[325] 




FRANK B. NOYES 

TILL three years short of the age of fifty, 
Frank B. Noyes, president of the Associated 
Press and president of the Evening and Sun- 
day Star, of Washington, D. C, has achieved 
high distinction among the great newspaper 
publishers of America. Inherent genius, 
natural adaptability, and persistent hard work 
have placed him among those at the head of 
one of the honored avocations of men of affairs in this country. 
His life has been a busy one since he became seventeen years 
of age, marked by persistent application to, and study of, liis 
chosen calling, with but brief interludes of travel and recreation. 
The result is shown in the development of the greatest news- 
gathering organization in the world, and the expansion of one 
of the most valuable newspaper properties in the United States, 
to both of which his efforts have contributed in large degree. 
He is a son of one of the great editors of the country, Crosby 
S. Noyes, now deceased, whose editorial writings, covering a 
range of fifty years, fixed his status among the editorial advo- 
cates of liberty, justice, and expansion in America. Frank B. 
Noyes elected to enter the business department of The Evening 
Star, after securing his education at Columbian University and 
in commercial schools. This was when he was seventeen 
years of age, and in a very brief time he found himself holding 
a position of great responsibility under S. H. Kauffmann, then 
the president of the Evening Star Company, who devolved 
wide powers of discretion upon his assistant. 

The problem which confronted Frank B. Noyes, and which 
successfully worked out, was to keep The Evening Star abreast 
of the times, and yet preserve the conservative character of the 

[326] 



FRANK B. NOYES 

newspaper, in so far as business methods affected it. Wash- 
ington is a conservative city, and a newspaper catering to 
a population drawn from ever}' section of the countty, com- 
prising men of every shade of political, religious, and per- 
sonal opinion, must, if truly representative, be conservative. 

Mr. Noyes protected and encouraged the small advertisers. 
TJte Star is essentially the organ of the small advertiser, the 
individual advertiser, and carries more advertising of this 
character than newspapers of infinitely larger circulation in the 
big cities. The advertising columns were maintained in har- 
mony with the character which Crosby S. Noyes impressed 
upon the editorial and news columns. Frank B. Noyes soon 
became treasurer in title and active business head in fact 
of TJie Star. 

In 1894, he was made one of the board of directors and 
a member of the executive committee of the old Associated 
Press, at that time incorporated under the laws of lUinois. 
A decision of the court in that State made news-gathering 
associations common carriers, and it became advisable to 
reorganize. In 1899, Mr. Noyes and his associates worked 
out the new organization, incorporated under the laws of the 
State of New York, of the Associated Press. 

This organization is unique in character under its new 
charter, and represents a revolution in the organization of news- 
gathering concerns. The form of the charter and the method 
of operation under it are largely the products of the business 
genius of Mr. Noyes. In 1900, Mr. Noyes was elected presi- 
dent of the Associated Press, and has been recurringly re- 
elected, having held the office of president longer than any 
other man in preceding or similar organizations of this kind. 

WTiile Mr. Noyes would disclaim more than his due share 
of credit for the expansion of the Associated Press during 
his incumbency as president, it is a fact that the association 
has developed marvelously, until now it has no peer among the 
news-gathering associations of the world. From being depend- 

[327] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

ent on foreign news-gathering associations for foreign news, it 
has become a world news-gathering organization. Instead of 
taking news from foreign news agencies, the Associated Press 
now dispenses news to them. 

It maintains agencies in China, India, the Philippines, 
Japan, Australia, and South America, with staff correspond- 
ents and bureaus in Vienna, St. Petersburg, Rome, Berlin, 
Paris, Madrid, London, Brussels, The Hague, Cairo, and 
Capetown. 

In 1 90 1, Mr. Noyes acquired an interest in the Chicago 
Record-Herald, and while retaining liis holdings in The Evening 
Star, went to Chicago to conduct the new paper created by the 
merging of The Times-Herald and The Record. He was made 
the publisher of The Record-Herald, and the following year 
became editor as well, with complete charge of the property. 

Under his management that newspaper became a power 
in municipal affairs in Chicago and in the larger affairs of the 
State. Its influence with voters was recognized, standing as 
it did for progress, reform, good government, and State and 
civic betterment. 

Mr. Noyes remained a director in The Star, and early in 
19 10 returned to Washington, the home of his youth, and took 
the business management of the enlarged Evening and Sunday 
Star, in ugurating changes which resulted in increased cir- 
culation, and prestige for the paper. 

In personaHty Mr. Noyes is affable but earnest and business- 
like. He shows his business training by discountenancing 
trivialities. He is approachable, but at the same time dig- 
nified and punctilious in manner. He is fond of politics, 
books, and travel — when he can get time for the latter. His 
part in politics has been that of counselor and adviser, and he 
is the friend and confidant of men high in the Republican 
party. He has a charming family and a beautiful home in 
Washington, and moves in the more exclusive social circles of 
the National Capital, as well as in the official life. 

[328] 




ROBERT L. OWEN 

SENATOR in Congress from Oklahoma. Sen- 
ator Owen is one of the new men in the 
political life of the nation. He has blazed 
his own path from boyhood to his present 
position. Senator Owen was born in Vir- 
ginia. His father, a native of Virginia, was 
a railroad president. His mother was from 
the Cherokee Nation. Therefore, Senator 
Owen has in his veins the blood of the aboriginal American. 
He was educated at Lynchburg, Va., Baltimore, and at 
Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Va., of which 
General Robert E. Lee was president at the time of his death. 
Senator Owen has been a public-school teacher, an editor, 
lawyer, banker, and a man of general business affairs. He 
took up his residence in the Territory of Oklahoma several 
years before statehood was obtained. He was one of the 
early Oklahoma "boomers." He was a pioneer in the de- 
velopment of that section, which is now regarded as one 
of the model States in the Union. He was a dominant fac- 
tor in every step taken toward the establishment of statehood. 
He had much to do with the framing of the constitution for 
the new State, which, in the opinion of many of the best 
minds of the country, comes nearest being the ideal form of 
government, creating a system as nearly democratic as has 
ever been attempted in the United States. Senator Owen had 
not been long in the Territory until he was recognized as a 
man of unusual force and qualities. He is conservative in all 
things, yet possesses as determined a nature as is found in 
the average man. Being a man of high education, everything 
he has accomplished has been brought about upon an elevated 
plane of endeavor. During the time he has been in the Senate, 
now having served one-half of his term, he has developed into 

[329] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

one of the most formidable members on the Democratic side 
of the chamber. Though a banker, he is popular with the 
masses, which speaks volumes for Senator Owen, the popular 
theory being that a man who is at the head of a large financial 
institution cannot have interests sympathetic with those who 
toil. Senator Owen has disproved this proposition, and by 
doing so has put it away in the background. The greater 
portion of patrons of his banking house are farmers, and if 
they do not progress, Senator Owen's bank is at a standstill. 
He has exhibited a high order of wisdom in the management of 
his banking interests in the new State, to such an extent, in fact, 
that in the country districts he is a man of unusual popularity, 
commanding the respect and confidence of every reasonable 
thinker in the commonwealth, regardless of party predilections. 
Senator Owen has been much in the public eye of late, in 
consequence of his efforts to have passed by Congress a bill 
providing for the establishment of a Department of Public 
Health. He has met with strong opposition by a certain 
element of the medical profession, but it is not probable that 
the hostility avowed against the measure will be of sufficient 
strength to prevent it ultimately becoming a law. During the 
debate on the Payne-Aldrich tariff bill, Senator Owen was a 
conspicuous figure in maintaining and advancing the views 
of the Democratic party. He opposed with all his might and 
main the passage of the bill, and in doing so showed to the 
country, by his speeches, a high order of intelligence on this 
absorbing economic question. Senator Owen is a man of a 
large fund of general information upon almost every subject 
entering into the useful affairs of the Government. He is a 
lawyer of skillful training and capable as a practitioner, 
though for the past few years he has been giving the most 
of his attention, when Congress is not in session, to his large 
business interests in his State. He is a man of high ideals. 
He views the affairs of the day in a calm, considerate manner. 
As a factor in the affairs of the Democratic party, Senator Owen 

[330] 



ROBERT L. OWEN 

has taken his position as one of the real safe and sane managers 
of the organization. He is never unduly influenced by any 
of the short-lived isms of the day. He believes in the prin- 
ciples of Democracy as handed down by the early teachers. 

Senator Owen is as straight as an arrow, with hair origi- 
nally as black as a raven, though now sprinkled with gray. 
He has well-chiseled features and a most pleasing face, which 
is smoothly shaven. He has an imposing presence, carrying 
with it the emphatic stamp of determination. He is quick 
to think and quick to act. He is never idle. It would appear 
that he finds the greatest enjoyment of life in being busy. 
Though coming from the newest State, in personal appearance 
he might seem as hailing from New York. He has the hall- 
mark of a man of alTairs. He is a bit punctilious about his 
dress, which is always up to date, embracing the prevailing 
style. He is a Chesterfield in manners. He is never too busy 
to do a friend a favor. He combines, in mingling with the 
people, by his courtesy, the traditions of the old South and the 
modern busy life of the present generation. He lives method- 
ically, observing the necessity for recreation. He is not par- 
ticulariy fond of fashionable society, as it exists in Washington, 
but he is a member of it. He is as much at home in any of the 
well-appointed drawing-rooms at the Capital of the country 
as he is among his rural friends and neighbors in the fertile 
fields of Oklahoma. He has a liking for outdoor recreations. 
He is a good horseback rider. Most men like dogs. Senator 
Owen is especially fond of them. Few men who have been 
honored with a seat in the United States Senate have given 
more of their time to studying matters of needed legislation 
than Senator Owen. He is not always looking for poUtical 
advantage over his antagonist, but he believes in the wisdom 
of enacting legislation that will redound to the benefit of the 
greatest number. He realizes that it is the material develop- 
ment of the country that is most required. 

Senator Owen represents the highest type of the new South. 

[331] 




ALTON B. PARKER 

'EMOCRATIC candidate for President in 
1904. Judge Parker, as he is most generally 
known and called, is as splendid a represen- 
tative of the highest type of manhood as is 
known to the American continent. Judge 
Parker comes from one of the old and dis- 
tinguished families of the State of New York. 
He has been identified with the administration 
of public justice as a practicing lawyer and a judge upon the 
bench the most of his business life. His last public ofHce was 
that of an associate justice of the Supreme Court of New York 
State, which he resigned to accept the nomination for the 
Presidency. Previous to being made the standard-bearer 
of his party, he was not much known outside of the State. 
He had acquired a fine reputation in the State as a law^'er of 
unusual abiHty, and as a judge whose decisions gave him rank 
among those possessing an unusual store of legal knowledge. 
Previous to going upon the bench he participated, more or 
less, in State politics, and was at one time chairman of the 
State committee, and during the time he held this position 
as the party's manager, David B. Hill made one of his 
triumphant campaigns for the governorship. His work in 
politics advanced his fortune in no uncertain way, so much 
so, in fact, that he was made the Democratic candidate and 
elected a justice of the Supreme Court. This office he filled 
with becoming dignity and high honor. He is a man of more 
than usual attainments, not only in the practice of law, but in the 
literature of the law. He is a man of high ideals. In poli- 
tics, he is a worthy exponent of the old-fashioned Democratic 
ideas of Samuel J. Tilden. When the Sage of Gramercy 

[332] 



ALTON B. PARKER 

Park and Graystone was the Democratic candidate for Presi- 
dent, in 1876, Judge Parker was just entering man's es- 
tate. As young as he was at that time, he rendered fine 
service to his party, but did not, in any way, become conspicu- 
ous. He absorbed and adopted the theories of government 
laid down by Mr. Tilden, who was undoubtedly the most 
conspicuous Democrat in the United States during the time 
of his political activity. He believed in the principles of the 
Democratic party as brought forth by the founders of that 
organization. In these respects, Judge Parker may be looked 
upon at the present time as the ideal representative of the 
policies of Samuel J. Tilden. 

WTien Judge Parker's name was brought before the country, 
along in 1902, as a possible candidate for the Presidency two 
years later, there were very few people who knew anything 
about him. He made occasional visits throughout some of 
the States, and wherever he appeared, he left behind a most 
excellent impression. He grew upon the people. When the 
time came for the nomination, he was made the unanimous 
choice of the party by the assembled delegates at St. Louis. 
The platform having been adopted before the nomination 
was made, he felt inclined to differ with the money plank, 
which brought forth a telegram from him to the chairman of 
the convention, that unless this part of the platform was more 
explicit, he would decline the nomination. This one act alone 
did much toward impressing upon the people that Judge 
Parker has a mind of his own, and that he was not the one 
to appear to be other than what he really was. He made as 
strong a campaign as any other man could have made. He 
was defeated, stabbed in the house of his friends; but even in 
this he was eminent. A few days before the election, he was 
bold enough to charge that the Republican party was extorting 
fabulous sums of corruption money from every source it could, 
and particularly from the great financial institutions of the 
country. He made the charge specific, except as to calling 

[333] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

names. It was the kind of an arraignment that his opponent, 
President Roosevelt, was compelled to take notice of, and this 
he did in his usual manner. He promptly denounced Judge 
Parker as a liar, thereby giving him a high position among 
the seats of the mighty in the Ananias Club. This was in 
1904. Two years later, the developments incident to the in- 
vestigations of the management of the insurance companies, 
which, by the way, was one of the most notorious scandals 
known to frenzied finance, brought forth the fact that three 
of the largest insurance companies in the country had been 
unwilling contributors to the corruption fund, and in sums 
running up into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

It was then confirmed that Judge Parker had told the 
truth, and every word he uttered had been proved to the satis- 
faction of the country. Millions of people believed that it 
was then the duty of President Roosevelt to apologize to Judge 
Parker for his hasty and untruthful denial, which, however, 
he never did. Judge Parker, notwithstanding his high 
position as a great lawyer and his prominence in politics, is 
simple and democratic in manners. He is companionable 
to a degree. He is always approachable and ever pleasing. 
He is the prince of suavity and loyal in his friendships. He 
is of fine personal appearance and is not without a high appre- 
ciation of refined humor. No man has ever questioned his 
sincerity or his integrity. He is distinctively a man of the 
people. He believes that in administering the Government, 
the rights of the people are ever paramount. He is an uncom- 
promising enemy of class legislation, and had he been elected 
to the Presidency, he would have given to the country an 
administration of public affairs that would have been noted 
for its simplicity and exacting honor. Judge Parker is a man 
of whom the American Government and people have reason 
to be proud. 



[334] 




ROBERT E. PEARY 

'APTAIN in the United States Navy. 
The recognized discoverer of the North 
Pole. A man who has, perhaps, traveled 
farther north than any other known to civili- 
zation. He is of indomitable energy. At 
no time in his career has there appeared in his 
lexicon the word "fail." He has buffeted 
the waves and conquered the ice of the frozen 
North. Captain Pcar}'s work as an explorer has been 
upon the lines, that, *'if at first you do not succeed, try, try 
again." For more than twenty years it was his ambition to 
be the discoverer of the Pole. The world already knows the 
reports of his achievement. He was born in the State of 
Pennsylvania, became attached to the Navy as an engineer, 
whose duties consisted mostly of the construction of docks. 
He is not a graduate of the Naval Academy. 

The steadfastness of his purpose furnishes an excellent 
index to his character. His square jaws denote determination, 
endurance, and pugnacity. Of the last he has as much as of 
the two other qualities. He is as consistent a fighter for his 
rights as any man in the United States. Aside from being 
an explorer of world renown. Captain Pear}' is a writer of 
unusual force and vividness. He has contributed much to the 
literature of exploration, standing probably as one of the 
foremost authorities. He talks as well as he writes. He 
seldom uses other than the plainest and simplest Anglo-Saxon 
words. In preparing his manuscript for his numerous books, 
he usually dictates direct to the typist. After this is done, 
he gives it a thorough revision with his pen. In this respect, 
he is not unlike many authors. He dictates rapidly, showing 

[335] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

that he has thoroughly digested his subject before writing it. 
A large part of his writings are descriptive of his travels and 
personal experiences. It is believed his diaries are truthful 
and complete. He has left Httle to the imagination, and in 
reading his books, it is clear to the reader that he has written 
only of things he has seen and emotions he has felt. The 
captain may not be popular with people generally, but he 
is a man capable of making strong and lasting friendships. It 
is when Captain Peary is seen on his lecture tours, that he 
comes personally before the public. If it were not for the 
desire to make some money, out of which to pay his expenses on 
his exploring tours, he would not appear in public as lecturer 
at all. He says it is distasteful to him. In disposition he is 
retiring, but when aroused, he enforces the strength of his 
personahty in no uncertain manner. It was quite natural 
that he should make a determined fight to retain his honors 
as the discoverer of the Pole when that honor was claimed 
by another. He saw that unless he asserted his own claims, 
in the very start, the fruits of his twenty years' labor might 
come to naught. As an executive officer, he is a strict dis- 
cipHnarian. Some may say he is a martinet. He is a leader 
of men, but his methods are not always such as to make him 
respected or beloved. His one ambition in life has been 
accomplished. 

In the domestic affairs of life. Captain Peary has been 
exceedingly fortunate. His wife has been a great help to him 
in all of his undertakings. She has given him encouragement 
which has aided him materially. She has gone on the lecture 
platform herself in order to raise funds to help equip his arctic 
outfits. He has taught his children a great deal upon the 
subject of the arctic region. His most intimate friends 
insist that the public knows but one side of the man, and that 
is the least lovable side. He has had to overcome many 
obstacles, and it is in his efforts on these lines that the public 
knows him. He has a gentler side, which shows that he is 

[336] 



ROBERT E. PEARY 

not always the overbearing man some people consider him. 
He is particularly fond of music, and that usually indicates 
an even temperament. He is a student, but there are times 
when he insists that he must be amused. He does not go to 
the theater often, but when he does, it is usually for the pur- 
pose of being entertained in such a manner that he can find 
something at which to laugh. He is a nervous, restless kind 
of man. Some of his nervousness is of a nature that has 
taught him to look at his watch every few minutes, and yet 
not be able to tell what the hour was were he asked. If in a 
hotel lobby where there is a stock ticker, he will read the tape 
giving the latest market quotations, but it is not believed he 
could repeat the price of a single stock that had been recorded. 
Captain Peary is fully six feet tall, probably an inch in 
advance of it, with clear-cut features. He wears a drooping 
brown mustache, which covers a rather large and firm mouth. 
He looks one squarely in the eye, as if to say: ''I don't care a 

d what you think of me; I know my business." If he 

was ever given any instructions regarding the established 
rule of conventional dressing, he has not retained it. He is 
likely to be seen wearing a long frock-coat extending below 
his knees, with a broad-brimmed, crushed, soft white hat of 
the Alpine style, giving him the appearance of a rancher 
dressed in his Sunday best. He shakes hands with vigor, 
giving his visitor the impression that his sincerity is not to be 
questioned. He grips the proffered hand so strongly, some- 
times, that it makes his victim wince. He believes the Esqui- 
maux dogs are the best dogs in the world. He owns several 
of them, and they all love him. 



[337] 




SAMUEL H. PILES 

ENIOR Senator from the State of Washington. 
Senator Piles is a Republican, though born and 
reared in " Old Kentucky." When young Piles 
came into being, about three years before the 
Civil War, there was going on a political up- 
heaval in the ''Dark and Bloody Ground," 
by which name Kentucky is sometimes known. 
Senator Piles sprang from Whig ancestry. 
His elders were opposed to secession. From this, it might 
appear, he inherits his love for the principles advocated by 
the Republican party. He was educated in his native State. 
He was one of the bright young men in his community. His 
parents concluded to make a lawyer of him, though he, at first, 
thought he would rather be something else. Being obedient 
to parental direction, he pursued Blackstone, Chitty, and 
other great law authorities, with unexcelled industry. He 
was admitted to the bar in due course of time, and after receiv- 
ing his license to practice law, he packed up, bag and baggage, 
and struck out for the West. He went about as far as he 
could without getting into the waters of the Pacific or crossing 
the frontier into British Columbia. He set his stakes in the 
Territory of Washington. That was about 1882. The Terri- 
tory had not yet taken on statehood, but it had hopes. He 
opened a law office in one of the smaller towns, but later 
moved to Spokane, which its citizens are pleased to call the 
real Metropolis of the ''Inland Empire," meaning, of course, 
that as they look at it, it is the busiest mart of industry in the 
State of Washington, though the real capital, Olympia, is a 
thousand miles or more to the westward. Spokane flourished, 
and so did Piles. He wanted to get nearer the rolling seas 

[33^] 



SAMUEL H. PILES 

of the Pacific, at least, where the water is salt. His next 
stopping-place was Seattle, the sure-enough center of popula- 
tion in the Puget Sound country. The locating of Mr. Piles 
at Seattle was a good thing for the town, as well as beneficial 
to himself. It was here that ^Ir. Piles began taking on affairs 
of importance. He was elected city attorney of Seattle. Pre- 
\ious to this, he had been assistant prosecuting attorney in 
one of the judicial circuits of the State. These were the only 
two offices he ever held or asked for until he was elected to the 
United States Senate. About a year before Mr. McKinley and 
Mr. Br}'an made their historic campaigns for President, when 
the question of silver and gold was the one great political 
issue, Mr. Piles was appointed general counsel of the Oregon 
Improvement Company, which office he continued to hold 
until his election to the Senate. 

Senator Piles became active in politics a short time after 
taking up his residence in Washington, continuing for a period 
of over twenty years. He had achieved a State reputation as 
a high-class lawyer. His practice, however, was mostly con- 
fined to large corporation business, from which he received 
liberal fees. His reputation as a lawyer, quite naturally, brought 
him into political prominence. As he acquired fame, he like- 
wise put away a few dollars for a rainy day; in fact, for several 
rainy days, although he is by no means a rich man. He has 
simply made good money and saved it, which carries with it 
the full understanding that he is a man of sound business 
qualifications. His career in the Senate has been honorable 
to himself and to his State. It is certain that he m^ust possess 
no little popularity among his brother Senators. He has 
asked the Senate to do a great many things for the State of 
Washington. He has not been backward in making known 
his desires. Let it be proclaimed that he has not asked the 
Senate to do anything for his State that it has not done. Some 
one once said that if he were to ask the Senate to move Mt. 
Ranier, the highest snow-capped mountain in the State, from 

[ 339 ] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

where it has stood for centuries, out into the middle of Puget 
Sound, there would not be a voice raised against it. This 
shows how he stands with those who know him best in his 
official capacity. He has not made much noise in the Senate, 
nor has he hid his light under a bushel. It required a year 
or so for him to get on to the game, but it was not long after 
the expiration of that period that he knew what to do and 
how to do it. He is satisfied with one term as a Senator. 
He wants to go back to his law and make some more money. 
Senator Piles is not effusive about people or things. He 
is a reserved, silent, though effective kind of a man. Whatever 
he knows, he knows well, and his fund of information covers 
a long list of important subjects. He makes a good appear- 
ance wherever he is seen. He is polite and affable, not for- 
getting his Kentucky days, where courtesy has high standing. 
He is a good talker, in private conversation or on the stum.p. 
He doesn't use high-sounding phrases, but he can nail an argu- 
ment on one side and clinch it on the other as well as the next 
man. Senator Piles has done many good things in his com- 
paratively short life, and it is not recorded of him that any of 
them were done badly. He likes to see a good horse race, and 
he might bet on it if he thought he would win. This would 
indicate that he is not of a particularly speculative turn of 
mind. He is inclined to look for sure things, which symbolizes 
conservatism. He is not ashamed to dress well. He believes 
that ''the apparel doth oft proclaim the man." He is as 
sensible in his dress as he is about everything else. Senator 
Piles has a well-shaped head, black hair, and a face that indi- 
cates strength of character. He wears a black mustache, 
and appears a few years younger than he really is. His suc- 
cess in life has not changed him from his youthful ways of 
simphcity. He is a big man in his own State, and that is 
where he is best known. 



[340] 




GIFFORD PINCHOT 

'ORMER Chief Forester of the United States. 
This title may be a bit confusing as to what 
were the duties of Mr. Pinchot when in the 
service of the Government. In brief, it may 
be summarized about as follows: A few 
years after the advent of Mr. Pinchot into 
the service of the Government, he developed 
a plan for the conservation of the forests. 
He had devoted much of his time to the study of this and kin- 
dred subjects; therefore, he was well equipped to be placed 
at the head of so important, though a new, governmental 
bureau. No doubt other men had long since thought of the 
importance of this question, but it would seem that none had 
the courage to put it in force. Air. Pinchot had observed that, 
year by year, millions upon millions of acres of the forests 
belonging to the public domain were being destroyed by con- 
tracting lumbermen who were engaging in a business for gold. 
Mr. Pinchot was filled with patriotic pride, believing it was 
the duty of the Government to put a stop to the ruthless 
destruction of the timber lands. He sounded the tocsin of 
conservation. 

He preached it everywhere. He found a willing follower 
in Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States. On 
this question the two men thought alike. Mr. Pinchot's 
theory of conservation became almost a household word. 
Some may not have understood what it meant at all, while 
others may have believed that it was a new kind of break- 
fast food. At any rate, Air. Pinchot had struck a popular 
chord. There is something innate in mankind that revolts 
at the cutting-down of trees, particularly at this period of our 

[341] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

national existence, when the public demands that more trees 
shall be planted and that none shall yield to the attacks of 
the axman. Mr. Pinchot went further than the conservation 
of the forests, and stood as a protector in behalf of the people 
for water rights. He seemed to believe that many of the large 
corporations of the country, particularly the syndicate of power 
producers, proposed getting possession, where they could, of the 
most desirable streams, thereby converting them to their own 
use and at the same time reaping immense profits. To per- 
mit this to be done was, in Mr. Pinchot's mind, depriving the 
people of what was, by right, theirs. He proposed keeping 
the water rights in the hands of the people and out of the 
greedy control of the corporations. He was vehemently 
attacked upon this issue by the head of the Interior Depart- 
ment of the Government, which has under its jurisdiction 
most of the water rights, particularly in the West. This same 
agency opposed his method of conservation of the forests. 
This led to a quarrel between the former Chief Forester and 
the Secretary of the Interior. When Mr. Pinchot was in the 
zenith of his official career as the protector of the forests and 
of the water rights in the name of the people. President Taft 
asked for his resignation. 

This brought forth strained relations between Mr. Pinchot, 
the President, Secretary Ballinger, and all the friends of the 
latter in the Interior Department. Congress took a hand in 
the matter also, ordering an investigation, which lasted for 
several months. The result of this investigation may be made 
known some time before January, 191 1. Mr. Pinchot is not 
a theorist, but a man of practical ideas. He believes that it 
is the duty of the Government to protect its forests for the 
benefit of future generations. He points to the danger signal 
in the acts of Congress putting an excessively high tariff 
on lumber, levying it chiefly against Canada, where the forests 
have been conserved. He knows that the United States, to- 
day, has to get a large percentage of its lumber from across 

[342] 



GIFFORD PINCHOT 

the Canadian frontier, or from Norway or Sweden. He 
claims to see the handwriting on the wall, and in consequence 
of his honest enthusiasm, he has convinced the general public 
that he is right and his opponents are wrong. The lumber 
thieves and the water-power robbers arc, of course, his enemies; 
but he cares not for that. He is fighting a great battle, repre- 
senting the people's rights. His power and usefulness at the 
present time are not so great as when he was in the service of 
the Government, but his ardor is just as intense. There may 
come a time when Mr. Pinchot will be reinstated, but it is not 
believed that it will be until after Mr. Taft ceases to be the 
Executive. Mr. Pinchot is a man of large means, who does 
not have to work for the Government or anything else, so far 
as making a living is concerned. During the time he was 
Chief Forester, he used his salary ever>' month for the advance- 
ment of the sen-ice. With him, it is a matter of national pride. 
He Hkes the work, and it is a lucky thing for the Government 
that he does. He has aroused the people to a consciousness 
they never before experienced upon the questions coming under 
his domain. 

Mr. Pinchot has one steadfast, loyal friend in Theodore 
Roosevelt. He is a man of high education. He is a native 
of Connecticut, but lived much of his earlier life in Pennsyl- 
vania. WTicn Mr. Roosevelt was President, he was one of his 
most intimate personal friends — one of his boon companions 
in the game of tennis. There are few men more graceful in 
manners than Mr. Pinchot. He is college bred, and a man 
of unusual mental attainments. He participates much in 
fashionable Washington society, not because he has a fond- 
ness for it, but more for the purpose of coming in contact 
with clever people. Being unmarried and wealthy and an 
entertaining talker, he is always a welcome guest in any 
fashionable d^a\^ing-^oom or at any gathering of intellectual 
persons. 

[343] 




JOSEPH PULITZER 

O GREAT a journalist is he that no one in 
that profession, which is full of jealousies, is 
jealous of Joseph Pulitzer. Even his bitterest 
rivals do not hesitate to proclaim him a genius. 
However, to say that as a journalist he is a 
great genius goes far astray of doing Air. 
Pulitzer full justice. When this remarkable 
man was robbed of his eyesight and his 
nervous system wrecked, from overwork, his countrymen were 
deprived of a great constructive statesman. 

As a manifestation of his greatness as proof against jealous- 
ies, I will give an incident which happened at Chamberlin's, in 
Washington, Col. John A. Cockerill, himself a truly great 
newspaper man, had just retired from Air. Pulitzer's employ, 
and it was generally known that at the time there was not a 
very cordial feeling existing between the two men. A promi- 
nent citizen of St. Louis came up to the table where Colonel 
Cockerill was dining and began to say severe things about 
Mr. Pulitzer. Cockerill's manner indicated appreciation, 
and the St. Louis man continued his abuse. 

"Everybody in St. Louis," said the distinguished gentle- 
man from that city, "knows perfectly well. Colonel Cockerill, 
that it was you, and not PuHtzer, who made the New York 
World:' 

"Stop right there, my friend," said Colonel Cockerill, 
dropping his knife and fork. "Say what you like about 
Pulitzer, but understand that he alone built up the New 
York World, as well as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He is the 
greatest journalist the world has ever known." 

An intimate knowledge of Mr. Pulitzer was acquired 

[344] 



JOSEPH PULITZER 

by the wTiter when that great man had just secured control 
of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and months before Colonel 
Cockerill became connected with it. During this period Mr. 
Pulitzer was performing every service on the paper. I remem- 
ber one day he rushed into the editorial rooms, just as excited 
as a cub reporter, with an account of a runaway which he 
had written himself. The runaway horse had only damaged 
a cheap bugg}', but the Pulitzer account obscured that fact 
for the last line. 

At this time the editorial rooms were all thrown together, 
and Mr. Pulitzer mixed freely with the reporters and sub- 
editors, just as if he was one of tlicm. If he wrote something 
he particularly fancied, he would read it aloud for the benefit 
of his stafT. If a new reporter wrote a good story, Pulitzer, 
in his intensely enthusiastic way, would compliment the 
young fellow. He was just as free to point out mistakes. 

For instance, a particularly smart reporter was sitting 
with a group of his fellows in the editorial rooms, swapping 
stories, after the paper had gone to press, when Mr. Pulitzer 
joined them. 

Putting his hand on the reporter's shoulder, he said in a 
loud and enthusiastic voice: "Jennings, my dear fellow, 
do you know I think you XQiy clever?" 

WTiilc he was very proud of his editorial page, which was 
nearly all his own work, it always seemed to the writer that 
what Mr. Pulitzer most enjoyed was to join in selling papers 
to the newsboys. These picturesque youths were great 
favorites of the editor, and he knew them nearly all by their 
nicknames. WTien The Post-Dispatch went to press a little 
after three o'clock each week-day afternoon, he would leave 
liis editorial desk and repair to the counting-room. He 
would take his place at a counter where the boys were fur- 
nished with papers. In those days street-car tickets passed 
for currency, and some of the boys were not above tr}'ing 
to palm off bogus tickets. Finally, Pulitzer vetoed car tickets 

[345] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

as currency, and there was a riot. The boys refused 
to take out papers. Mr. Pulitzer made a speech to them. 
They did not want to hear him, but he persisted. He said 
his action was for the benefit of the boys, for they were fre- 
quently victims of the ticket system — receiving many counter- 
feits. He called them street merchants, and said they should 
favor sound business methods. The greenback craze was 
then at its height, and Mr. Pulitzer, who was always for 
gold, expounded his views on this subject to his youthful lis- 
teners. He converted them, and that was the beginning of 
the end of car tickets as currency in St. Louis. I have heard 
it said that Mr. Pulitzer was prouder of this speech than 
any he had ever made. 

In this connection it should be remembered that at that 
time the St. Louis editor was considered one of the most 
effective stump speakers in the country. Although not 
much more than a youth, he was selected in 1876 by Samuel 
J. Tilden to travel in all the doubtful States to answer the 
speeches of Carl Schurz, considered the most polished and 
logical orator of that period. Mr. Pulitzer's first speech, 
in answer to Schurz, was delivered at Buffalo, N. Y., and 
was pronounced a masterpiece by the Democratic leaders. 

The writer never thinks of Mr. Pulitzer without remem- 
bering his own first plunge into politics. He was only eighteen 
years of age, but his part in the Missouri Democratic State 
convention of 1880, which selected delegates to the national 
convention, which was to meet in the Ohio metropolis, resulted 
in Mr. Pulitzer's selection as a delegate to Cincinnati. The 
fight between the Tilden and anti-Tilden forces promised 
to be close. The green country boy, just learning to be a 
reporter, said to a fellow-worker that he could secure proxies 
from delegates elected in the Ozark mountain region of the 
State. The information was conveyed to Mr. Pulitzer. He 
jumped at the idea, and when the editor encouraged the 
green reporter to go after the proxies that reporter felt him- 

[346] 



JOSEPH PULITZER 

self more important than he has before or since the event. 
The proxies were secured, and by their use, as suggested by 
Mr. Pulitzer, two members of the committee on contested 
seats were obtained who were friends of the editor. By a 
majority of one the Pulitzer delegates from St. Louis were 
admitted to the convention, and in this way Mr. Pulitzer was 
made a delegate to the Cincinnati convention. In his happi- 
ness Mr. Pulitzer told the green reporter he was a born poli- 
tician, and the reporter was green enough to believe it. 
William Hyde, the Tilden leader, was so mad that he made 
life miserable for the green reporter for several years after- 
ward. 

Mr. Pulitzer has no license ever to chide William Jen- 
nings Br>'an for his always-eager desire to make a speech. 
At the convention mentioned above no man showed himself 
more eager -to talk. The Tilden managers had the galleries 
packed with St. Louis toughs, in order to howl Mr. Pulitzer 
down. They hurled all sorts of offensive language at the 
editor. For nearly an hour Pulitzer defiantly held his place 
on the platform. At times he seemed really to enjoy the 
turbulent scene. Finally, the toughs exhausted themselves, and 
Mr. Pulitzer made his speech. It was an intellectual treat. 

Looking back after all these years, what seems most re- 
markable about Mr. Pulitzer was his wonderful capacity for 
work. He seemed equally at ease when writing and talking 
at the same time. In this he was also very like Bryan. After 
spending an hour directing affairs in his business ofhce, he 
began his editorial work. He would hardly be seated when 
political leaders would come in. Instead of being put out, 
he was pleased to see them. Where another editor would 
furnish a brick, he had a mental banquet. ^'My dear fellow, 
how well you are looking," or, "My dear fellow, I am glad to 
see you," would be the greeting. From prince to pauper, 
every one was "my dear fellow" with Mr. Pulitzer in those 
days He would continue to dash off editorials and pun- 

[347] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

gent paragraphs while discussing politics with his visitors. 
He seemed to be as much immersed in politics as he was in 
building up his newspaper. 

Mrs. Pulitzer, a remarkable beauty, called at the office 
with her firstborn nearly every evening. Although having 
done the work of seven men, he would freshen up at seeing his 
wife and child and be as joyous as if they had just returned 
from a trip to Europe. He would cast everything aside to 
play with his Kttle son, and would have as many compliments 
for Mrs. Pulitzer as would a young lover. In such an atmos- 
phere, those were happy days for every one. Even the green 
reporter would welcome back his Ozark mountain unsophisti- 
cated ways to have those times return and see Mr. Pulitzer 
permit his enthusiastic nature to run rampant. 

Mr. Pulitzer has been credited with being the father of 
sensational (yellow) journalism. That is not true. When 
he started in St. Louis as an editor and proprietor of The 
Post-Dispatch, the two leading morning papers devoted much 
valuable editorial space to boasting about the number of 
special dispatches each contained from all parts of the world, 
telling of hangings and terrible crimes. The local columns 
of these papers were inoffensive and hence stupid. 

The Post-Dispatch'' s telegraph new^s, aside from the Asso- 
ciated press dispatches, was largely about political and 
commercial events, but the local columns were startling by 
comparison with those of their contemporaries. The routine 
way of reporting was discarded. Mr. Pulitzer was always 
holding back his city editor for being too sensational. Time 
and again he killed stories of social sensations after they were 
in type. 

Before Mr. Pulitzer had owned The Post-Dispatch a year, 
it had the largest circulation of any paper in the country 
except The Daily News, of New York, and with that single 
exception was making the greatest amount of money. Even 
with the success of The Post-Dispatch, Joseph B. McCuUagh, 

[348] 



JOSEPH PULITZER 

who was second only to Wilbur F. Storey, of Chicago, as a 
sensational journalist, dominated St. Louis journalism and 
had trained most of Mr. Pulitzer's men to his idea, so that 
Mr. Pulitzer's environments were toward sensationalism. 
He could not have helped being affected by his growing cir- 
culation. Even then Mr. Pulitzer's idea of a newspaper was 
what the New York World is to-day. 

The success of The World is in many ways a huge repetition 
of the building-up of The Post-Dispatch. Some of the most 
trjsted lieutenants on TIte World were first with Mr. Pulitzer 
in St. Louis. 

A great New York editor (now dead) strove to give the 
impression that the owner of The World is lacking in physical 
courage. It would be as absurd to charge Theodore Roose- 
velt with physical cowardice. The writer, on at least six 
occasions, has seen Pulitzer put to the test, and each time he 
proved fearless. One instance will do for all. 

Jake Usher, who ran a dive and cheap variety show, had 
sworn he would "do up Pulitzer." He invited several 
cronies as tough as himself to accompany him to The Post- 
Dispatch, that they might witness Usher's performance. 
Pulitzer happened to be standing in front of his business 
office and the green reporter from the Ozarks was looking out 
of the window just above, as the burly dive-keeper began 
his vocal attack. But his burst of indignation was as a sum- 
mer breeze competing with a Kansas cyclone. Mr. Pulitzer 
had the loudest voice on the Mississippi, and his flow of words 
came like Niagara. After describing the disgrace Usher was 
to St. Louis, he started for Usher, who was armed. Usher lost 
no time in getting away, but promised to see Pulitzer again. 
He never did. 

Nowadays Mr. Pulitzer spends much time on his yacht in 
foreign waters, and in summer he is at his beautiful home 
at Bar Harbor. But no matter where he is, he keeps in close 
touch with his great newspaper. 

[ 349 ] 




ISIDOR RAYNER 

IFTY years ago the first orator of the United 
States Senate was a Jew from Louisiana, 
Judah P. Benjamin, and Stephen A. Doug- 
las held him to be the most powerful debater 
with whom he had ever clashed. To-day 
the first orator of the Senate, and one of 
its ablest members, is another Jew, Isidor 
Rayner, of Maryland. What a wonderful 
race it is! Abraham, Moses, David— what other blood can 
match them ? A Jew wrote the book of Job ; Jews wrote the 
book of Isaiah; the book of Ruth is a love story that no pro- 
fane poet or romanticist has improved upon ; the Psalms came 
from a Jewish pen, and one can cordially subscribe to the 
eloquence of Zebulon B. Vance, as follows: 

"The Jew is beyond doubt the most remarkable man of 
the world — ^past or present. Of all the stories of the sons of 
men there is none so wild, so wonderful, so full of extreme 
mutation, so replete with suffering and horror, so abounding 
in extraordinary providences, so overflowing with scenic 
romance. There is no man who approaches him in the 
extent and character of the influence which he has exercised 
over the human race. His history is the history of civilization 
and progress in the world, and our faith and hope in that 
which is to come. From him have we derived the form and 
pattern of all that is excellent on earth or in heaven." 

When the Fiftieth Congress first assembled in December, 
1887, Mr. Rayner was a member from Maryland. His was 
a new face, his a strange voice in that chamber. It was a 
Congress famous for exceptionally able men and brilliant 
orators; it was the Congress that received Cleveland's famous 

[350] 



ISIDOR RAYNER 

tarifif message; the Congress that enacted in the House of 
Representatives the Mills tariff bill, and when Rayner was 
delivered of his maiden effort on that measure he became a 
national figure, one of the best-equipped, most formidable 
forensic gladiators in America. 

After Cleveland's second inauguration, the question of the 
annexation of Hawaii became acute. Harrison had already 
deposed the Queen of that countr>^ and conquered her sub- 
jects. There was a deal of rot about taking down the flag, 
and the air was full of blatherskite demagogy. A set of as 
precious knaves as ever coveted a \ineyard had put up the 
flag and stolen the realm. Cleveland ordered the wrong 
redressed, and a Mr. Sewall, who had superintended the 
outrage, was recalled. He wrote a letter on the subject at 
which Pecksniff would have stood aghast. Rayner made 
a speech on that letter and he took an illustration from that 
set of rogues who sat in conclave in the ecstatic hope that old 
Martin Chuzzlewit was dying at the Blue Dragon inn. In 
the midst of one of the villainies old Anthony Chuzzlewit 
interrupted and said: "Pecksniff, don't you be a hypocrite." 
"A what, my good sir?" demanded Pecksniff. 
"A hypocrite." 

"Charity, my dear," said Mr. Pecksniff. "When I take 
my chamber candlestick to-night, remind me to be more than 
usually particular in praying for Mr. Anthony Chuzzlewit, 
who has done me an injustice." 

WTien Rayner quoted that passage with fine scorn on his 
lips and fine indignation in his tone, the effect was prodigious. 
Rayner retired from Congress in 1895, and four years 
later he was elected Attorney- General of Mar>'land and then 
it was that he attained to the place he was made for. While 
he was counsel for Admiral Schley when that grand hero was 
pursued by the envy and malice of a precious set, who assumed 
that nobody should wear a laurel, however gallantly won, 
^vithout their permission— in that court-martial Rayner dis- 

[351] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

covered an aptitude for the nisi prius practice that stamps him 
as one of the great trial lawyers in the country. Had he had 
"twelve men in a box" before him his victory would have 
been as complete as it deserved to be. However, some four- 
score and more millions of American citizens were his jury, 
and they gave him the verdict he pleaded for. 

Mr. Rayner entered the Senate in 1905, and has been 
re-elected. His speeches on the rate bill were exceptional 
for logic, learning, and eloquence, and to-day he ranks as the 
first orator of that body. He is fluent, ornate, and dramatic, 
and he stands as perhaps the chief exponent of the Democ- 
racy of Cleveland and Carlisle left in public life. 



[3523 




WHITELAW REID 

'MERICAN ambassador to Great Britain. 
There are few more capable men in the 
United States than Mr. Rcid. His career, 
private and public, might well be emulated 
^ by the young men of the present and future 
generations. Mr. Reid has carved out his 
own destiny. As a young man, he entered 
upon life's struggle unaided, except by the 
good teachings of his father and mother. They were plain 
country folk, whose ways were simple and whose wants were 
few. He was bom not far from Xenia, Ohio. He chose jour- 
nalism as a profession, and has risen to high distinction. 
His first experience in newspaper work was on the Xenia 
Gazette, which, in those days, was a weekly publication, 
later being issued daily. Young Reid made The Gazette the 
most talked-about local paper in his section of the State. He 
was editor, reporter, and almost ever\'thing else connected 
with the establishment, even to typesetter, and at times lent 
a willing hand in working the old hand press, which has long 
since become obsolete even in the most primitive offices. 
Editor Reid had opinions. He put them on paper, and they 
were printed. He entered upon his work when the all-absorb- 
ing political topic of the day was slavery and anti-slavery. 
He was not only opposed to the extension of slavery into the 
Territories, but was in favor of its ultimate abolishment. 
Mr. Reid was comparatively a young man when the Civil 
War came on. Xenia became too small a place to harmonize 
with young Reid's ambitions. He was determined to become 
not only a newspaper writer, but to advance to the head of 
the profession, if it were possible- He enlarged his oppor- 
23 [ 353 ] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

tunities by becoming associated with the Cincinnati Gazette, 
at that time the stalwart organ of the anti-slavery faction 
in the Ohio valley. This paper had supported Fremont, the 
first Republican candidate for President, in 1856, and when 
Abraham Lincoln became the second candidate of the new 
party, it was the chief molder of public thought on the lines 
of the new party organization throughout a number of States. 
At the beginning of the war, Mr. Reid was sent to the front 
as the correspondent of The Gazette. He served in this ca- 
pacity until the close of hostilities, having achieved the rep- 
utation of being one of the leading war correspondents of the 
American press, of whom there were several others who had 
gained national reputations. 

Following the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox, 
Mr. Reid was transferred from the Army to Washington, 
where he became correspondent of The Gazette for several 
years. There were few things transpiring from 1861 till 
1870 in connection with the war and the reconstruction of the 
Southern States with which Mr. Reid had not more or less 
familiarity. The leading generals of the Army were his 
friends, as were those in public office at Washington. Mr. 
Reid's letters to The Gazette during the war and for four or 
five years thereafter were among the more important con- 
tributions to the literature of those historic periods. As such, 
he achieved national fame, which served as a stepping-stone 
to higher journalistic honors. Horace Greeley, then editor 
of the New York Tribune, had observed the writings of Mr. 
Reid. The great New York editor invited him to become 
associated with his paper. This he did, and in 1872, when 
Mr. Greeley became the candidate of the Liberal Republican 
party and indorsed by the Democratic party for the Presi- 
dency, Mr. Reid stepped into the shoes of Mr. Greeley as 
editor of The Tribune. This, however, was at the time tem- 
porary, pending the Presidential campaign. The sudden 
and unexpected death of Mr. Greeley, so soon after his defeat 

[354] 



WTIITELAW REID 

for the Presidency, made it possible for Mr. Reid to become 
the permanent head of the paper. From November, 1872, 
until 1889, when President Harrison appointed him minister 
to France, Mr. Reid was the controlling force in the Trihiine 
office. He followed well in the footsteps of his illustrious 
predecessor. He put into the paper his high ideals of jour- 
nalism. About this time the Tribune company constructed a 
new building twelve or more stories high, with a tower extend- 
ing some few stories higher. This gave the facetious \\Titers 
of other papers throughout the country the opportunity of 
referring to Mr. Reid as "the young man in the tall tower." 

Mr. Reid never sought to make Tlie Tribune progressive, 
if progress meant sensationalism. The paper never did 
anything foolish while under his control. It was sane in its 
expressions of public opinion, and safe in the dissemination of 
its news. Its editorial page reflected the best opinions of the 
day upon all public questions. While the paper had wan- 
dered astray somewhat in opposing the regular Republican 
organization in 1872, Mr. Reid wheeled it into line in 1876 in 
behalf of Rutherford B. Hayes. From that time to the 
present The Tribune has been, and is, one of the most consist- 
ent Republican papers in the United States, and a publication 
that is invariably cast upon high lines. In 1889, when Benja- 
min Harrison became President, among his first appointments 
was that of Mr. Reid as minister to France, the post then not 
having been elevated to that of ambassador. As the repre- 
sentative of the United States at the French Capital, Minister 
Reid advanced the good name of the North American Repub- 
lic before the French people. In 1892, he was selected by 
the National Convention at Minneapolis as a candidate 
for Vice-President on the ticket with Benjamin Harrison, 
in the place of Levi P. Morton. The Republican party, 
however, was defeated, after which Mr. Reid returned to The 
Tribune, where he resumed his duties as chief editor and 
general director. This position he continued to hold until 

[355] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

he was appointed ambassador to Great Britain by President 
Roosevelt. His career as ambassador at the Court of St. 
James is honorable in the highest degree. President Taft 
is satisfied with him, and the chances are he will continue 
to serve in this high position until the termination of the 
present administration. Mr. Reid was honored by Presi- 
dent McKinley in the appointment of special ambassador 
to England at the time of Queen Victoria's celebration of the 
sixtieth year of her reign. 

Ambassador Reid has set a high standard as the American 
representative at London. His home, Dorchester House, 
in Park Lane, is the scene of many of the most brilliant social 
gatherings that transpire in London. He is conceded to be 
one of the best ambassadors at that post that this country 
has ever sent there. Mr. Reid was fortunate in his marriage 
in selecting for his wife Miss Mills, daughter of the late D. O. 
Mills, who brought him great wealth. This he has utilized, 
not alone for hisL personal pleasures and those of his family, 
but in giving to the American embassy at the English capital 
a position in the social and pohtical world that was never 
before attempted. There are few Americans journeying 
to London, when calling, who do not find a welcome recep- 
tion at Dorchester House. Mr. Reid is a man of plain and 
simple habits. He was born a gentleman in his relation with 
others, and has so marked his Ufe that he has worn that high 
title during his entire career. He is easy and graceful in 
manner, and always well attired. He is a man of engaging 
quaUties, and as a private conversationalist there are few men 
his superiors. For a great many years, he was a striking 
character, with his coal-black hair, which at times he wore a 
trifle long. In his younger days he usually wore a mus- 
tache. Of late years, he has worn a full beard, which is now 
quite gray, as is his hair. He is over six feet tall, and though 
upward of seventy years of age, is as erect and nimble as 
when a man of thirty. 

[356] 




HERMAN RIDDER 

COMMON belief appears to have it that 
business and politics do not mix. And in the 
mind of many the thcoty has taken root that 
a man who is guardian of large business 
interests cannot afford to take an active part 
in politics, even as, vice versa, a politician 
hardened to his profession is deemed unfit 
forcvermore for the pursuit of legitimate 
business affairs. If such be the accepted view, projected 
perhaps upon a large number of individual cases, there cer- 
tainly are obvious and wholesome exceptions. 

Take the case of a man known nearly all over the country, 
whose name is to-day as familiar to the Democratic workers 
and voters in ever}^ State as it is to financial and business 
circles of New Y(3rk and other centers — Herman Ridder, pro- 
prietor of the largest German daily newspaper published 
in this countr}', the New Yorker Slaats-Zeitung. He is 
one of those for whom the theory that politics and business 
do not mix has no meaning. Careful, circumspect, and con- 
servative in business matters, which include the management 
of a great newspaper, but extended far beyond this limited 
sphere in many directions, Herman Ridder has found it quite 
compatible with his private business to take the keenest 
interest in public affairs, even to the point of participating 
most prominently in the management of a Presidential cam- 
paign as treasurer of the National Democratic Committee. 
Perhaps he is an exception to the rule: his mind more ex- 
pansive, his vitality stronger, his will-power more aggressive 
than that of the average man, but for a certainty his activity 
in, and his influence upon, politics have been important and 

[357] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

wholesome, and his great business interests, far from suffering, 
have meanwhile continued to flourish and to increase. 

In many ways, undoubtedly, Herman Ridder is an un- 
usual personality. Self-made man, in the best acceptation 
of the term, he started as a poor boy selling newspapers in the 
street, and, aided by natural aptitude for business affairs, 
intense ambition, and indomitable energy, he attained, step 
by step, through his own sturdy endeavor, to the prominent 
position in the community he occupies to-day. Personally, 
Herman Ridder is a lovable man. Straightforward in his 
actions, blunt and unvarnished in his talk, guarding his own 
interests with keen prudence without deceitfully taking ad- 
vantage of the misfortune of others, fighting in the open and 
with blows from the shoulder when fight it must be, he presents 
the picture of an aggressive, manly man; loyal, warm-hearted, 
and open-handed as a friend, but an uncompromising foe. 

None know better than Speaker Cannon and his standpat 
satraps what kind of a fighter Herman Ridder is when the 
lines are drawn sharply. For years he has been a thorn in 
their side, since as president of the "American Newspaper 
Publishers' Association" he urged the abandonment of the 
duty on wood pulp and a reasonable reduction on print- 
paper in order to free the newspapers of this country from the 
oppressive burdens forced upon them by the monopoly of the 
Paper Trust. Cannon and his followers, Dalzell and Payne 
to the fore, balked stubbornly; the Speaker himself resorted 
to a double game, professing to be in sympathy with Ridder' s 
demands, and trying to unload the responsibility for the 
refusal upon the shoulders of his satellites. But Ridder, un- 
willing to be played with, confronted them in a bunch, and a 
very drastic scene followed in the privacy of the Speaker's 
room at the Capitol. Entirely unimpressed with Dalzell's 
haughty incivility, undaunted by the Speaker's fusillade of 
characteristic sulphurous invective, Herman Ridder spoke 
his mind in the plainest manner possible and consequently 

[358] 



HERMAN RIDDER 

made himself extremely unpopular with these mighty legis- 
lators. Then came open hostilities. After many a sharp 
conflict, Cannon and his followers had to appoint an investi- 
gating committee, presided over by Representative Mann, 
which delved into the practices of the Paper Trust and 
finally reported in favor of Ridder's contentions. But during 
the memorable period of tariff-making, in 1909, the Aldrich- 
Cannon-Payne combination embraced the Paper Trust lov- 
ingly in their protective schedules and smothered the propo- 
sitions of the Mann committee for the relief of the publishers. 
Ridder lost that first great battle for lower tariff rates, but the 
fight is still on, and will not end until a real tariff revision 
downward has been accomplished. 

As an employer of labor, Herman Ridder came early in 
contact with labor organizations. There were some skir- 
mishes at first, but soon the labor leaders became convinced 
of Ridder's fair-mindedness, and the mutual understanding 
then reached has ripened into confidential relations. In 
later years he has acted as arbitrator in a number of labor 
disputes, and the wage scales in more than two-thirds of the 
newspaper offices in this country have been amicably agreed 
upon through his friendly mediation with the representatives 
of typographical unions. 

More than once Herman Ridder has been approached 
by the temptation to aspire for high political preferment, 
and at one time he had a close call indeed. That was two 
years ago, at Denver, where William J. Br\'an secured his 
third no'lnination for the Presidency. Ridder had toured the 
Southern States in the spring of that year, opposing Bryan's 
candidacy in numberless speeches, but the Nebraskan's 
nomination was practically a foregone conclusion, which no 
argument could alter. A few days before the convention 
met at Denver Ridder visited the prospective Presidential 
candidate at his country seat, Fairview, near Lincoln. Biyan, 
fully informed as to Ridder's previous "pernicious" activity 

[359] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

in the South, received him with marked reserve. But the 
New Yorker went at him in the most unconventional manner. 
The conversation which ensued was something Hke this: 

"Mr. Bryan," said Ridder, after a formal handshake, ''I 
have done all I could to stop your nomination, because I 
beheve it will lead to Democratic defeat. Now I have come 
to you to urge that you do not allow your name to go before 
the convention, in the interest of the whole party." 

"Mr. Ridder, I shall not withdraw," answered Mr. Bryan, 
calmly, but very positively. 

"Then I shall go on to Denver and try to argue the dele- 
gates into defeating your nomination, if that is still possible," 
said Mr. Ridder, with equal positiveness. 

"You cannot prevent it," replied Mr. Bryan. "I am going 
to be nominated." 

Ridder stood silent for a few moments. Then he said: "In 
that case, I want to say to you that the nominee of the Denver 
convention will have my loyal support and that of my paper." 

Bryan's face Ht up with broadest sunshine as he grasped 
the New Yorker's hand and pressed it warmly. And for the 
next half-hour the two men exchanged their views on impor- 
tant questions of party policy with utmost frankness on both 
sides. When Ridder turned to go, Bryan laid a hand on his 
shoulder: "Mr. Ridder," he said, "I should like to have a 
man of your type with me on the ticket!" Ridder remon- 
strated, saying it was quite impossible for him to accept the 
nomination for the Vice-Presidency. But Bryan replied with 
a quiet smile: "Let that be settled at Denver, Mr. Ridder." 

Naturally, the news of this interview flashed over to Den- 
ver, and almost instantly a boom was started for Herman 
Ridder among a number of Southern delegations— Kentucky, 
North Carolina, Louisiana, West Virginia, and others. But 
Ridder left Denver on the day the convention opened, to 
escape the importunities of his many friends, and three days 
later Kern, of Indiana, was nominated. 

[360] 




EDDIE E. RIGGS 

'XD NOW, the author desires to introduce to 
you the doyen of all the political writers of the 
United States, Edward G. Riggs, of the New 
York Sun. For twenty-five years the politi- 
cal correspondent of The Sun, attendant upon 
all national conventions, and principal State 
conventions, Mr. Riggs has an acquaintance 
among public men of America and a know- 
ledge of State and national politics to be en\'icd. He has 
been the confidant of Presidents, counselor of political cam- 
paign managers, and the valued friend of men in high place. 
The expression should not be used in the past tense, for he 
is all those things still, and actively in the harness. 

The result of an experience such as he has enjoyed is that 
he can drop into St. Paul, or San Francisco, or Chicago, or 
St. Louis, or Columbus, and at once be in touch with the 
men who do things in poh'tics and finance in those cities — 
for Mr. Riggs has been a writer on financial as well as politi- 
cal topics. 

In disposition he is admirably equipped to make and 
hold acquaintances of lasting character. Public men love 
him for his personal qualities and esteem him for his ability. 
He is a charming companion, a shrewd observer, a good 
judge of men, and so thoroughly in touch with the big affairs 
of the nation and the world as to make his opinion not only 
interesting, but valuable. 

One who knows him would say that the dominating char- 
acteristic of his nature, and which has sounded loud and clear 
through his newspaper career as a major chord, is a pas- 
sionate scorn and hatred for all that is mean, low, and false. 

[361] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

He was reared in journalism under Charles A. Dana, and his 
influence served to develop the inherent characteristic of high- 
minded devotion to a high standard of ethics, personal and 
professional. 

His natural bent for journalism was inherited from his 
father and grandfather, both of whom were financial and 
political writers. He was born in New York City, and has 
always lived there, holding that intense love for his city which 
all natives entertain. After receiving his education, he began 
as a financial writer on The Sun, soon developing into the 
leading pohtical correspondent. In recent years he has con- 
tributed constantly to the editorial page. 

The aggressive spirit of the famous newspaper for which 
he writes is properly reflected in his nature. He is never 
so ready to grab his pot of ink and a pen as when a fight is to 
be made for a principle, and when he says things he says 
them in a way not to be misunderstood. His style of writing 
is both facile and fluent, marked with constant flashes of 
humor. He is a very human being, and understands his 
human brother while he loves him. He hates a sneak and a 
coward almost as much as he does a liar. 

For twenty-five years a hard worker, not knowing what it 
was to spare himself, he is a great reader. In all those years 
he has made it a practice to close the hardest day's work, 
though it may have been extended far into the night, with a 
nibble at books. He loves Thackeray as he does a dish of 
bouillabisse, which Thackeray celebrated in an epic. 

He numbered among his closest friends such men as Gov. 
Roswell P. Flower, William C. Whitney, Thomas C. Piatt, 
David B. Hill, Matthew S. Quay, Mark Hanna, Benjamin 
Harrison, H. H. Rogers, William McKinley, and Grover 
Cleveland. He enjoys the esteem of such men as Theodore 
Roosevelt, William H. Taft, William J. Bryan, and J. Pierpont 
Morgan. He knows personally every big man in the United 

[362] 



EDDIE G. RIGGS 

States Senate and House of Representatives well enough to 
stick his knees under their mahogany, and be welcome. 

Mr. Riggs' attitude toward politics is that of a kindly 
cynic. Professing a scorn of politics, the game is to him as 
the breath of his nostrils— but it must be played fairly, with 
the cards above the table, or somebody will hear from him. 

It would be hard to say whether he is a Democrat or 
Republican, since he does not hesitate to take a shy at the 
politicians of both parties when necessar)\ But he is trusted 
by leaders in both parties, and his advice is valued. With a 
smile of indulgence for the weak, but a brow of scorn for the 
meanly wicked, he goes through life enjoying the bubbles, and 
bearing, as a good sportsman should, the ills that may be- 
fall. I regard Eddie Riggs as the best-informed, all-around 
political newspaper man in the United States. 



[363] 




EDWARD P. RIPLEY 

'resident of the Atchison, Topeka and 
Santa Fe Railway. There are few men 
identified with the management of the great 
railway properties of the United States pos- 
sessing stronger characteristics than Mr. 
Ripley. His business career started in Boston. 
He was born at Dorchester, in Massachusetts, 
and tradition has it, in and about his native 
place, that, as a boy, he was not unlike others of correspond- 
ing age, unless it may be that he was a bit more mischiev- 
ous. He was a rollicking kind of a youngster, who was 
inclined to observe the humorous side of life, although he had 
moments of seriousness. In the matter of general informa- 
tion, he was probably quite in advance of boys of his age. 
This, it would seem, may have been the result of excellent 
home influence. As an observer of people and events, he ex- 
hibited as much, if not more, good, sound reasoning powers 
at fifteen years of age than most young men are capable of 
showing at twenty-one. He was sufficiently inquisitive to 
create the impression that he wanted to know things. He did 
not exactly have to be "shown." The reason for this may 
have been that he was a native of Massachusetts, and not of 
Missouri. His first railroad experience was in Boston, and 
his start was in a position that paid a small salary. In time he 
advanced, and it was not long until he became the authorized 
freight agent of the Pennsylvania Railroad in Boston. Mr. 
Ripley later went West, becoming connected with the freight 
service of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, 
with headquarters at Milwaukee. It cannot be said that Mr. 
Ripley made Milwaukee famous, but while he was a resi- 

[364] 



EDWARD P. RIPLEY 

dent of that city he took on fame as one of the leading 
freight men connected with any of the Western roads. His 
first high position was that of general freight agent of the 
system. He held this for a long term of years, during which 
time he made it possible for his road to carry into Milwaukee 
thousands upon thousands of car-loads of barley and malt, 
and later ship out many more thousand car-loads of beer. 
Thus it will be seen that Mr. Ripley was almost an eyewit- 
ness to the phenomenal development of the brewing indus- 
try in the great German-hke city. 

Mr. Ripley's achievements as general freight agent so 
impressed the directors of the road with his ability that he 
was made one of its vice-presidents. In this position, he 
proved to be one of the real potent forces in making the 
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul road one of the leading 
highways from Chicago to the Northwest. About fifteen 
years ago, Mr. Ripley was unanimously chosen by the board 
of directors of the Santa Fe system to become its president. 
It was at about this period that the Santa Fe built its East and 
West extensions, giving it a through line from Chicago to 
San Francisco. The road had had many reverses, and a 
strong man was needed at the helm. Mr. Ripley proved 
to be the right man in the right place, and his selection was 
at the right time. He put new hfe, new energy, new ideas, 
and nevv results into the organization. He has men about 
him of high intelligence, who are able to carry into execution 
the many original plans he has in contemplation. In less 
than a year, he made the Santa Fe known throughout the 
country as one of the most popular of the trans-continental 
lines. He had been at the head of the Santa Fe system but 
a few years until he had as his rival the late Edward H. Harri- 
man. Mr. Harriman quickly gained the reputation of being 
a railroad wizard — or, at least, was popularly so supposed 
to be, and he no doubt was. Mr. Ripley, however, was his 
match in every particular. He proved to be as resourceful 

[365] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

as was Mr. Harriman, though not indulging in as many 
pyrotechnics. He was willing to admit that he found a 
strong antagonist in Mr. Harriman, but the friends of the 
latter did not conceal the fact that Mr. Harriman was in full 
possession of the knowledge that Mr. Ripley was a foe in the 
railway world to be reckoned with. Mr. Ripley has had to 
fight his way inch by inch. Mr. Harriman had two compet- 
ing lines, one the Union Pacific, via Omaha, and the other 
the Southern Pacific via New Orleans, San Francisco being 
the common destination. James J. Hill, another giant, 
controlled the destinies of the Northern Pacific and the Great 
Northern. It was a contest for supremacy between these 
three men. Mr. Ripley did not vanquish his foes, nor did he 
expect to, but he has made the Santa Fe a commanding road 
from every point of view. 

Mr. Ripley is a plain, blunt man. He assumes to be 
nothing more than what he really is. He can hold his own 
with any man in the country on almost any question. At one 
time he had a tilt with no less an adversary than Col. Theo- 
dore Roosevelt, then President of the United States. He 
stood his ground and fought the battle to the finish. He was 
not to be daunted by any governmental authority in what he 
beheved to be his inalienable rights. Mr. Ripley is a man 
who is noted for strict attention to his own business. He 
knows all about operating a great railway system in every 
detail. He is a student of conditions and is probably as 
well informed on the industrial matters of the country as any 
man in it. Physically, he is large and forceful. He is not 
in the least particular about fashionable dressing. He leaves 
the selection of his clothes exclusively to his tailor, in whom, 
it would appear, he has great confidence. He is as big in 
brain as he is big in frame. He spends a large portion of his 
time on the lines of the road. He is not a president in name, 
but a president in fact. 

[366] 




JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER 

HIEFLY known as the organizer and head of 
the Standard Oil Company, and richest man 
in America. These may be proud titles 
to wear as \iewed by the general public, 
but the indications are that Mr. Rocke- 
feller has found inside of his crown a good 
many thorns. He has had his share of abuse, 
which he seems to have borne with fortitude 
and silence. There are, no doubt, moments, and probably 
days and hours, when deep down in his heart he feels the 
intensity of the sting. He has had a somewhat remarkable 
career. Nature apparently equipped him with a well-devel- 
oped power for making money. The first forty years of his 
business Hfe would indicate that all of the seven days out of 
a week were devoted to the accumulation of power and wealth. 
Later on, he dropped the seventh day from business, and gave 
it up to religious thought. That he has done good in the 
world, all must admit. Mr. Rockefeller was among the first 
to see the possibility of the development of the oil industry. 
When Providence made it spout from the ground and all man 
had to do was to harvest it, Mr. Rockefeller and his asso- 
ciates were in the vanguard of the husbandry, carrying the 
largest buckets. His one great object in life was to succeed. 
He was never particularly thoughtful of the weaker persons 
who, unable to cope with stronger powers, were forced to take 
a back seat, as it were. It mattered Httle to him what befell 
others, so long as he was undisturbed in approaching the 
goal of his ambition. Few men identified with the industrial 
progress of the United States gave evidence of greater indus- 
try than has been shown by Mr. Rockefeller in his busy and 

[367] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

varied career. It is true that through his energy the country 
has increased in wealth. And it is likewise true that Mr. 
Rockefeller's riches have grown in greater proportion. If 
all reports be true, he is worth, in his individual right, more 
than one hundred million dollars. When he began his pur- 
suit of wealth, a man who owned one million dollars was far 
richer than it was generally believed he should be. A man 
with that much money was one of the men to be gazed at 
wherever he might go. For one man to possess one hundred 
million dollars demonstrates the fact that business conditions 
are such that some men are entitled to greater privileges 
than others. 

Mr. Rockefeller may have been happy in the acquirement 
of his millions. He will, no doubt, consider conditions respon- 
sible for his accumulation of great riches, and assert that he 
did nothing more or less than to take advantage of the oppor- 
tunities incident to these conditions. It would be unfair to 
hold this against a man. It serves to show that he was wise 
in his observations. He knows he cannot take his wealth 
with him when the final summons is served, consequently he 
is now showing a highly commendable philanthropic nature. 
In the matter of the distribution of his wealth, it is doing, and 
going to do, a great deal of good for a great many people. 
He believes in higher education, though he had few oppor- 
tunities for securing an education himself. The money he 
has given for the Chicago University is a monument to his 
good deeds. He performed a noble charity in founding a 
hospital for the cure of children, in New York, and for the 
elimination, as far as possible, of diseases so fatal among 
children, particularly cerebro-spinal meningitis. Mr. Rocke- 
feller, during the past fifteen years, has shown a breadth of 
thought on philanthropic lines that must command the admi- 
ration of every one. It would seem that he finds it more 
difficult properly to distribute much of his wealth on whole- 
some lines than it was to acquire it. He has reached almost 

[368] 



JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER 

the full measure of life, and has done much to cause people 
to think more kindly of him than prevailed a decade or so 
ago. He is not popular on any golf Knks. He is close in 
the matter of giving tips to the caddies. They are all against 

him. . 

It is not recorded of Mr. Rockefeller that he has ever m his 
Hfe had many intimate associates, though he may have had a 
large number of acquaintances. He has lived much to him- 
self. His business associates know him best as a man of 
business. He has been rather secretive all his life. He 
believes himself to be a much misunderstood man, and no 
doubt he is. He was brought up in a rural section among 
those whose wants were few and whose ways were simple. 
Notwithstanding his immense wealth and power, he has lived 
the simplest kind of a life. He has never done anything for 
show. For a great many years he preferred that the public 
should know little, if anything, about him or his business 
affairs. Few men have a more perfect home life than^ he. 
He is particularly pleased when members of his family circle 
are with him. This does not mean his sons and daughters 
only, but his sisters, brothers, and their famiUcs, or, at least, 
most of them. He is not one who believes in spending money 
because he may have it. He Hkes plain, simple food, which 
was the case even in the days when he was able to eat heart- 
ily. He does not spend two hundred dollars a year for his 
clothes. Some may consider Mr. Rockefeller of a philosoph- 
ical turn of mind. He has been the master workman in one 
of the largest industrial enterprises the United States has ever 
known. It is not fair that for this he should be condemned. 



24 [ 369 ] 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 




THEODORE ROOSEVELT is the Uveliest 
of live men. 

As political Bosses with a big B, Tom Piatt, 
Mark Hanna, and Matt Quay were mere 
figureheads. If they were alive, in their 
prime, and in politics to-day, they would be 
beaten to a jrazzle. 
He is the most skilled and the most prac- 
tical politician ever seen. He can capture the East on one 
platform and the West on another entirely divergent. He 
takes them in going and coming and whipsaws the turn with 
the greatest of ease. 

Therefore he is a wonder and a most extraordinary man. 
There is not anything so big or so little that Mr. Roose- 
velt will not tackle it. 

He has the courage of his convictions, right or wrong, 
if they go his way. 

If one can judge from his sayings, he is, perhaps, the only 
honest man in the world. 

If he ever has the chance, and he may, he will abolish 
the Supreme Court and establish one of his own. 

Like many other men of his kind, he is not silly enough to 
practice what he preaches. 

In a word, Theodore Roosevelt is for Theodore Roosevelt, 
first, last, and all the time. You can bet your sweet life on 
this, and not lose it. 

Just keep your eye on him for the next two years if his man 
Stimson is elected Governor of New York. 



[370] 




ELIHU ROOT 

XLESS he dies or is elected to the Presidency, 
Elihu Root, of New York, will be a member 
of the United States Senate until March 
3, 19 1 5, when his present term of office 
expires. After that, he is apt to be re-elected, 
unless the New York legislature happens to 
be Democratic. For New Yorkers are proud 
of Root. He is looked upon by many as 
being the ablest man, per se, in America. 

And yet historians will not be apt to deal at length with 
Root's career in the Senate. Nor will they lay particular 
stress upon his remarkable achievements as a corporation 
lawyer. But they will write much of Root as a statesman, 
as a diplomatist of the first rank among Americans, as the 
man who, up to date, has done more to bring into harmony 
the peoples of North, Central, and South America than any 
other man. For it was as Secretary of State under President 
Roosevelt that Root carved out his place in his country's 
history. 

Everything that this remarkable man has accomplished, 
and he has accomplished enough to satisfy the ambitions of 
a dozen men, has been accomplished by sheer intellect. He 
has no magnetism to speak of. From the standpoint of the 
orator he is a poor speaker. He knows nothing of flowery 
elocution, or, if he does, scorns to use it. He has never shoul- 
dered his way into the hurly-burly of political strife. He 
has never run for office, except before the New York legisla- 
ture, and has never had to resort to stump speeches to gain 
his ends. 

Trained in the law courts. Root's efforts in the speech- 

[371] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

making line have been confined to saying something that 
intellectual judges would understand and appreciate and in- 
tellectual opposing attorneys would find difficult to answer. 
And at that sort of speaking Root is past master. 

Like many other successful Americans, Root is the son of 
a college professor. His father was Oren Root, professor of 
mathematics at Hamilton College, New York. Elihu Root was 
born in Oneida County, New York, in 1845. In 1864, he 
graduated from Hamilton College, and then taught school 
at Rome Academy for a year. Thence he went to the law 
school of the University of New York, from which he was 
graduated in 1867. He immediately began the practice of 
law in New York City. From 1883 to 1885 he served as 
United States attorney for the Southern District of New 
York, to which position he was appointed by President Arthur. 

That was his only Government position until 1899, when 
President McKinley made him Secretary of War. While he 
had been known far and wide as one of America's leading 
corporation lawyers, it was not until Root entered the Mc- 
Kinley Cabinet that he attained a national reputation as a 
public man. 

He had had no experience in military affairs, but he looked 
upon the machinery of the War Department as he would 
upon a legal or mathematical problem. He simply turned the 
full force of his intellect on it. Whereupon things began to 
happen. 

The Spanish War had just ended. The War Department 
was in turmoil. Many of the bureau chiefs, men who had 
spent years amid the red tape of the Army, had become un- 
usually military. Most of them had received good promotions 
as a result of the war. They hung over their respective desks 
signs that read: "If you want to know who is boss around 
here, start something." It would have taken a day's chopping 
of an expert ax-wielder to cut enough chips to furnish the 
shoulders of the war chiefs in those days. Then came Root. 

[372] 



ELIHU ROOT 

Some one has said somewhere that Root's mind works like 
a diamond drill; that whatever it strikes it bores through. 
For reliable testimony on that point, go to any of the army 
officers who were on duty at the War Department during the 
three years that Root was the head of that Department. 

With his logical, orderly, and legally trained mind, Root 
soon saw that there was too much of many things wrong with 
the War Department. One of the worst of the troubles was 
the fine collection of officers of high rank who headed the 
various bureaus. They had all reached that period of life and 
military rank where it suited them much better to give orders 
than to take them. So they were running about wild, butting 
each other like a herd of angry rams. 

The new Secretary worked out his plan of reorganization 
and then called the Army officers into consultation. He told 
them mildly what he wanted, and politely waited for them to 
do it. As Root and everybody else familiar with conditions 
in the United States Army at that time fully expected, trouble 
followed. A brigadier general at the head of a bureau saw 
a colonel at the head of another bureau getting too much power. 
He raised a row. Then Root started something. He knocked 
the heads of the belligerent officers together until they had 
calmed down. Those who would not calm down returned to 
their commands. In an incredibly short space of time Root 
had things about the Department running like well-oiled 
machine. 

But he did not accomplish what he did without many 
fights. The Army officers battled valiantly, but every time 
they hit Root they bounced off. The cold, limpid Root 
brain and the Root reserve chilled them to the marrow. Also, 
President ^McKinley and, later, President Roosevelt backed 
Root up in everything he did. The officers took the signs off 
their desks and wiped the reflection off their faces. Root 
had shown who was boss. 

Toward the close of the year 1903, Root found himself 

[373] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

running short of funds. While he was in the Cabinet he 
could earn nothing but the $8,000 salary he received from the 
Government. In the meantime, he was living at the rate of 
at least $30,000 a year. So he told his troubles to President 
Roosevelt, and asked to be let off. He had done all he could 
with the War Department, he told his chief, and wanted to go 
back to the practice of law and earn some money before he 
got too old. Roosevelt laughed at the "too old" iclea, for 
Root was then a young man of fifty-nine years of age. But 
he reluctantly parted with Root. 

Root quit the Cabinet January i, 1904, and returned to 
New York. There he practiced law with due diligence until 
July 7, 1905. In that time he is said to have earned more than 
$200,000 in fees. 

But the call of the nation came to him again when Secre- 
tary Hay died. The man whom Europeans consider the 
greatest diplomatist ever produced by America was in failing 
health a year before he died. John Hay was loved by many 
Presidents, but by none more than Roosevelt. When he 
died, the President, with all who had served in the Cabinet 
with Hay, went to his funeral in Ohio. Root was summoned 
by Roosevelt to go on the same train with the President. On 
the way to Ohio, Roosevelt took Root into a private stateroom. 

"Elihu," he said, "you have got to come back in my 
Cabinet. Hay is dead. There is no man living who can fill 
his shoes as well as you can. I need you." 

Root remained silent a few minutes. He is a great man 
to deliberate a question in absolute silence while the ques- 
tioner awaits the answer. At last he looked at Roosevelt 
and told him he would come back. 

During the time he was Secretary of War Root always 
became acting Secretary of State in Hay's absence. He was 
familiar with the work. He lacked that wonderful knowledge 
of foreign affairs that Hay had gained by many years' service 
abroad, but he had handled numerous big international law 

[374] 



ELIHU ROOT 

cases. He came to the State Department July 7, 1905, fully 
equipped. 

As Secretary of State he made no blunders. He accom- 
plished a great deal. But above all, his work among the Latin- 
American Republics was of inestimable value. He showed 
our ''brothers to the south of us" a consideration never 
before shown them. In 1906, he went in person to attend 
the Pan-American Conference at Rio de Janeiro. On the way 
to Rio and back he visited every country, winding up in 
Mexico. It was a tour of triumph from start to finish. 

In Rio he delivered a speech that the South and Central 
American statesmen and newspapers are quoting to this day. 
He told his hearers that the United States wanted no sover- 
eignty or territory in South America. Its policy was the 
Americas for the Americans, the Western hemisphere for the 
dwellers therein. 

That speech was remarkable for another reason. Root 
read from manuscript in English. He would read a couple of 
sentences and the interpreter would translate. The South 
Americans love fiery oratory. They are unaccustomed to 
the cold, analytical sentences that fit well in the higher law 
courts of English-speaking people. But Root held them 
spellbound. They sat in rapt attention throughout his 
speech, and then cheered him until the walls rocked. 

For in his speech Root forever dispelled thought of the 
German peril. He made it clear that the United States of 
America would play older brother to the weaker RepubHcs 
to the south. They must work out their o\mi salvation. The 
United States would see that they were unmolested by Euro- 
pean powers. He left a feeling of friendship such as had 
never before existed. Years from now his work in that 
direction will be remembered. 

When Thomas Collier Piatt left the Senate to die, the New 
York legislature had a lucid moment and sent Root to the 
Senate in his place. So the State Department lost a great 

[375] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

head and New York gained the greatest Senator she has had 
in many years. 

In the Senate Root has not shown as yet. He entered 
that august body, not as a novitiate, but as a full-fledged 
member. The Administration halo was about his head, and 
he got as good committee assignments as if he had been in the 
Senate a decade. His work is quiet and forceful. He has 
made two or three big speeches, but most of his efforts are 
confined to committee work, wherein he is as brilliant as 
he was before the law courts and at the head of two depart- 
ments. 

Root has the reputation of being cold. He is so, intel- 
lectually. Tall, erect, rather slender, he is almost a hand- 
some man. His hair, slightly gray, drops down over his 
forehead, giving him a boyish look at times. Ever and 
anon Root is humorous. He used to have lots of fun with 
the newspaper correspondents. Once, while he was acting 
Secretary of State, in Hay's absence, the Japanese situation 
was acute. A Washington newspaper was howhng lustily 
for war. We will call the paper The Blade, there being no 
Washington Blade. 

In the midst of the delicate Japanese situation there was 
an uprising in Honduras, Official telegrams came to Root. 
He received the newspaper men. 

''Are we going to war with Honduras?" one of them 
asked. 

''I do not know," said Root, solemnly. ''Maybe so. If 
we do, do you think The Blade would be willing to call off the 
war with Japan?" 

Again Root was asked a pointed question. He did not 
care to answer it. So he mumbled his reply. One of the 
younger correspondents, who did not know his ways, took 
the bait. 

"I did not quite catch your reply, Mr. Secretary," he said. 

"I did not intend you should," replied Root. 

[376] 



ELIHU ROOT 

Root's greatest quip came when President Taft was gov- 
ernor of the Philippines and Root was Secretary of War. 
Taft had been ill, and Root had ordered him to take a vaca- 
tion. Taft did so. Upon his return to Manila he sent Root 
the following cablegram : 

" Just rode a mule a hundred miles over the mountains. 

Feeling fine." 

To which Root replied, also by cable: 

"Glad to hear you are well; but how is the mule?" 



[377] 




THOMAS F. RYAN 

NE OF the conspicuous financiers in the 
United States. Mr. Ryan has made his own 
way in the world, starting life without either 
money or influential relatives. He is dis- 
tinctively a man of commercial turn of mind, 
with a liking for finance rather than industrial 
pursuits. It would seem from knowing 
something of Mr. Ryan's career, that at the 
very beginning he had a fixed purpose in view — that was 
to acquire wealth and such power as wealth would give him. 
He is a native of Virginia, reared in the rural districts. He 
acquired as good an education as was ofifered him in the com- 
munity where he spent his boyhood. His first business con- 
nection was in Baltimore, in a banking house. Mr. Ryan 
prospered and progressed from the start. He was never a 
laggard. He had original ideas, but it was not always pos- 
sible to get others to adopt them. He could not then adopt 
them himself, because he was without funds. He saved 
money from his first month's salary. This he continued 
doing, until he ceased working for other people and went into 
business on his own account. It was then that he was in 
position to follow his inclinations and put some of his own 
ideas into execution. Baltimore, being a conservative finan- 
cial center, did not o£fer, in Mr. Ryan's opinion, the necessary 
opportunities for a person of his trend of mind. He wanted 
to locate where there was more activity. The knowledge 
he had gained while in the employ of the Baltimore bank 
whetted his appetite for a more expanded field of operation. 
He readily saw that the financial center of the country was in 
New York, and that if once established there, he could make 

[378] 



THOMAS F. RYAN 

himself a factor in affairs of the country, which he could not 
do in Baltimore. It was then that Mr. Ryan made a survey 
of the New York situation. In the meantime, he had accu- 
mulated money, with which he was able to embark on enter- 
prises of his own. Mr. Ryan's career as one of the kings in 
finance forms a large part of the history of the Wall Street 
district for the past twenty years. 

Mr. Ryan is by nature a shrewd trader. He is as good a 
judge of collateral value, probably, as any other man in New 
York. There is no particular sentiment in Mr. Ryan, when 
it comes to business. He counts his millions in dollars and 
cents, and it is well to bear in mind that he has always been 
of the impression that if one takes care of the pennies, the 
dollars will take care of themselves. This has been one of 
his characteristics as a successful operator. He has been 
beholden to no one. He has directed the course of his own 
destiny, and when measured by an accumulation of the world's 
goods, he has directed it wisely. He is not a man to have 
many confidants. He acts upon the principle that by keeping 
close mouth, he is best able to husband his own resources. 
He has never been \\ithout some consideration for, even, 
those who would crush him, if they could. He has led the 
van in several hotly contested financial and commercial engage- 
ments. He has met men as brainy and as resourceful as 
himself. Mr. Ryan cannot say of himself, nor will those who 
know him say of him, that he acquired any part of his vast 
fortune without working for it. He may be a hard master 
at times, but it is recorded of him that he is invariably a fair 
one. The action he took in saving the Equitable Life Assur- 
ance Society from probable deterioration and possible dis- 
integration stamped him as a benefactor to the large army 
of policy-holders, though what he did redounded to his own 
pecuniary benefit as well as theirs. At any rate, Mr. Ryan 
stepped in at the psychological moment and saved the organi- 
zation from passing into the control of some well-known Wall 

[379] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

Street buccaneers. If he did profit by it, and the chances are 
he did, the stockholders and policy-holders nevertheless owe 
him a debt of gratitude for which, if they are honest with 
themselves, they will render due acknowledgment. Probably 
some, if not all, have or will. 

In viewing Mr. Ryan outside the gateway of his money- 
changing temple, he has a bigger heart than most people 
realize. He has contributed, probably, as much to charity 
as any of the really rich men of the country. He has never 
sought to have these or kindred acts advertised, being content 
with the knowledge that he has tried to perform his duty to 
mankind in a manner that would do good to those who 
were the recipients. His prominence in the financial world 
brought him much into public notice in many of the more 
important moves incident to new developments in his sphere 
of action. Through a business life of more than forty years 
he has had time, occasionally, to stop on his wealth-procuring 
journey to turn aside from the sordid things of life wherein 
he might become companionable with his fellow-man. This 
he can do, and often does. Mr. Ryan's ways are as simple 
as when he was a boy of fifteen in Virginia. He doesn't 
need the money he possesses, at least not all of it. The 
excitement attending the accumulation of great wealth is prob- 
ably his best excuse for having engaged in the many con- 
tests he has waged. In his home life, Mr. Ryan is likened 
unto a prince, when it comes to dispensing hospitaHty. He is 
a good talker and likes talking to a good Hstener. At times 
he may appear dogmatic, but, if so, it is because he is sure of 
the justness of his own position in the argument, whatever 
that may be. Illustrations of himself have appeared in so 
many public prints that his face is familiar to millions of 
readers. If Mr. Ryan had chosen to adopt agricultural pur- 
suits, he would have been the best and the most progressive 
farmer in his county. 

[380] 




WINFIELD SCOTT SCHLEY 

'ear admiral of the United States Navy, 
retired. The name of Admiral Schley is 
about as well known throughout the United 
States as that of any man in it. He is a 
native of Marv'land, and since he was seven- 
teen years of age he has been connected with 
the Navy, first as a student at the Naval 
Academy, and after his graduation his career 
has furnished a large part of the history- of that fighting ad- 
junct to the Government. He was with Farragut during the 
Civil War, and his conduct as a young officer was honorable 
alike to himself and to his countr}^ Admiral Schley has 
accompHshed much in his life, but no one would ever know it 
if it were necessary to wait for him to tell it. That is one 
of his strongest characteristics. He refuses to talk about 
himself. When comparatively a young man, he volunteered to 
take charge of an expedition for the relief of Adolphus W. 
Greely, who had gone in search of the North Pole. Admiral 
Schley, in charge of the relief expedition, arrived at the criti- 
cal moment. Had he been two days later, General (then Lieu- 
tenant) Greely and his comrades would undoubtedly have died 
from starvation. For more than ten days. Admiral Schley 
stationed himself in the crow's nest of the vessel and with great 
glasses surveyed the horizon. It was a hazardous task, but he 
did it courageously and cheerfully. At the end of the ten days 
he was rewarded by observing evidences of Hfe on the surface 
of the snow and ice — the mere flapping of one of the folds 
of Lieutenant Greely's tent. The condition of the men, 
when found by Admiral Schley, has been graphically told, so 
that it is not necessary to go into details here. It furnishes 

[381] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

a large part of the history of the Navy Department. Admiral 
Schley has been for the past twenty years one of the leading 
men identified with the Navy. He never shirked a duty, nor 
disobeyed an order. There never was a time, when his ser- 
vices were in demand, that he was not within calling distance 
of his superior. 

When the United States went to war with Spain, Admiral 
Schley took his accustomed position at the front. His presence 
was needed, and he was on hand to comply with every direc- 
tion. It was Admiral Schley who fought the naval battle of 
Santiago on the 4th of July, 1898. He pursued and de- 
stroyed the Spanish fleet in its attempt to escape from the 
harbor of Santiago to the open sea. It was the decisive and 
final battle of the conflict, and as he fired the last gun the 
war was over. His flagship, the Brooklyn, received the 
greater number of shots from the enemy, but that did not 
seem to deter the courageous Schley. He not only took 
punishment, but he delivered punishment, as history has 
recorded. He performed his duty with the same modesty 
that has characterized his every official act. He asked for no 
praise, more than the grateful tributes of a thankful people. 
He had detractors, envious and jealous of his triumphs. This 
made no difference to him. He knew that the people knew 
who fought the battle and who was responsible for the vic- 
tory. He made no charges against any one. He bore in 
silence the barkings of the inconsequential herd. He main- 
tained his full dignity of manhood. He preferred that his 
acts should speak for him, rather than that he should raise his 
voice in defense of himself. He had done things, while others 
had done nothing. He was never a party to the poHtical 
jugglery going on inside of the Navy Department. He ev^er 
showed a hostihty to bureau autocracy. He was a naval 
fighter, not afraid of powder or shell. Many of those who 
said the most against him had never smelled or seen either. 
He was not a strategist, but a man schooled in war and not 

[382] 



WINFIELD SCOTT SCHLEY 

afraid to meet the enemy face to face, which he has done 
on more than one occasion. 

Admiral Schley is well known to the American people, 
particularly as regards his personal appearance. His promi- 
nence in the war with Spain as the victorious commander 
in the waters of the Caribbean Sea brought him into such 
renown that his photographs were in great demand by all 
the magazines and newspapers of the country. For the past 
few years he has been on the retired list, having reached the 
age limit, but is still one of the most active men in the city of 
Washington, where he resides. He is as quick in pace and 
agile in step as when he was twenty-five years old. He doesn't 
look to be a day over fifty. He is getting a trifle bald, but 
hundreds of men are bald at thirty. lie is jovial in disposi- 
tion. His extreme modesty adds to his popularity. He is 
never too busy to see his friends. He likes having them about 
him. There is hardly a port in the world which he has not 
at some time visited. He is conceded to be one of the best- 
posted men in the United States on the naval conditions of 
the world. He has made a study of this question. So con- 
versant is he upon this matter, that he can tell, at any time, 
how many naval vessels any of the Great Powers have had 
at any period of their existence. Admiral Schley is a most 
likable man. The people who live near him are his neigh- 
bors in neighborly ways. His success in life never has turned 
his head. He is the same Winfield S. Schley to-day that he 
was before receiving the encomiums of his fellow-citizens 
when he put the last Spanish ship out of commission. As he 
remarked at the time: "There is glor}- enough for every one." 
This shows his magnanimity. Admiral Schley is an honor 
and credit to the greatness of the achievements of the Ameri- 
can Navy. 



[3^3] 



SWAGAR SHERLEY 




^HE STORY of Swagar Sherley is that of a 
man with a foundation. Ornaments of speech 
and mind came afterward, as the battle- 
ments and turrets are set upon the basework 
of a castle. But to the fact that Sherley, 
during much of his boyhood, was bedfast 
he owes a course of reading, a liking for the 
fine intellectual things of life, and a grounding 
in the principles of mental discipline that few men can equal. 
At present Sherley is a member of Congress from Ken- 
tucky, and he is a prominent member. Much of his work is 
done in committee. This means that the unseen, unrecorded 
pruning of appropriations to fit the Government purse, that 
the studious investigation which leaves only meritorious 
claims for settlement, is his chief work in the Congress. On 
the floor he receives careful attention, because he usually arises 
to debate the parliamentary tangles and to unravel them, 
to expound abstruse legal situations into which the business 
of the House has carried it. So much, to Sherley 's alert mind, 
seems obvious that he is rarely heard on measures of which 
he has been able to form an instant opinion. He finds him- 
self thinking that to all the House the measure must be as 
patent, the reasons pro or con as clear. So Sherley has the 
work of quarrying and refining, and from his committees the 
stuff to make into legislation comes pure and glittering. Feel- 
ing that every one can tell dross from precious metal, Sherley 
has not the fault of gilding over gold. 

What is aristocratic in this country, Sherley is. His 
family is a Southern one whose memories are of generations 
and silver. His father, Capt. Thomas H. Sherley, was a 

[384] 



SWAGAR SHERLEY 

distinguished Kentuckian and Democrat, once member of 
the Democratic National Committee. It is a part of the 
record of the tricks fate plays that Captain Sherley always 
coveted the seat in Congress from the Fifth Kentucky District 
now held by his son. 

Swagar Sherley was reared in the atmosphere of social 
Louisville, a stratum of humanity that is witty, cultured, 
and altogether distinctive and patrician. Frequently, in the 
United States, aristocracy of the intellect is received gladly 
by aristocracy of birth, and from this mingling springs such 
an aristocracy as that of Kentucky. Sherley was reared 
among these people. Barred by illness from many of the 
outdoor sports of a boy, he devoted himself to mental culture. 
By the time, therefore, that he had gone to the University 
of Virginia and begun the study of law, he was well founded 
in the best information of the world. 

Then Sherley began to balance himself. He took up 
boxing, and, although he has been lame for years, he became 
a rangy fist man. His shoulders are broad and his chest is 
deep, and with the gloves the Kentucky youth managed to 
become a dangerous opponent. 

The law found Sherley a devoted pupil. It seemed that 
his mind was formed, his faculties trained, for fine legal weav- 
ing or unwea\ing, and that his tongue bore conviction to 
bench and to jury. It is but a step from the law to politics, 
and Sherley, believing that he would become famous as a 
prosecutor, entered into a race for commonwealth's attor- 
ney. He lost. 

The night that Sherley was defeated for this place, he 
found himself badly in debt. He was facing a turning-point 
of his life. But he took a path over the hill instead of around 
it; he chose to scramble across the rocks rather than to walk 
through peaceful pastures and along the banks of pleasant 
streams. Sherley, defeated for a small office, set out to 
demand a greater one. He was ashamed that he had asked 
^5 [ 385 ] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

so little, this man whom his party had refused to nominate for 
commonwealth's attorney. He resolved to go to Congress, 
and this he realized. Nomination and a first election came 
after Sherley had shown the mettle that was in him. Then 
came renomination and a second election, and others fol- 
lowed, sometimes against party and Republican opposition 
(he is a Democrat) and sometimes against Republican oppo- 
sition only. The people of his district found that their young 
Representative was becoming a forceful man in the national 
House, and they showed their appreciation by keeping him 
there. 

As this book is off to press, Sherley is one of the chief of 
the nation's legislators. A bill reforming the abuses of the 
old bankruptcy provisions and enacted into law bears his 
name in the United States statutes. He is one of the recog- 
nized great lawyers in public life. His career lies before 
him in its greatest breadth, and his district and his State expect 
much of him. 

Sherley is featured like a Roman: Large nose, broad fore- 
head, thin lips, and uptilting chin. He has the pale com- 
plexion of those whose blood supply is meager, but his eyes are 
frank and clear, and they redeem this pallor. As his admirers 
say: 

"Swagar Sherley looks like a statesman, and is one." 



[386] 




THEODORE P. SHONTS 

'EAD of the Rapid Transit system of the city 
of New York, which embraces all the surface, 
elevated, and subway roads. Mr. Shonts 
has done so many things in his busy life that 
it would require much space to enumerate 
them all. He spent most of his business life 
in Iowa, but that need not give the idea that 
he was bom there, although he would not 
object to that honor, had it so transpired. He is a native of 
Western Pennsylvania. His free and eas} — probably breezy — 
style would stamp him as a man from the big-hearted West. 
He is universally considerate of ever}'body, and as courteous 
as an old-time Southern colonel. Young Shonts was brought 
up in the atmosphere of surgery and medicine. That was 
because his father was a practicing physician. The sire 
desired that the son should follow in his footsteps, but the 
latter took a different view of the future. He preferred being 
a lawyer, and a law}'er he became. He went West to Illinois 
and Iowa. Being of good address and indomitable push, he 
made his own way, and made it well. He was fortunate in his 
love affair. He married the daughter of Gen. Francis M. 
Drake, a man of great force in the State, and at one time 
governor. General Drake was one of the real upbuilders of 
industrial affairs in his section of the countr}% being in con- 
trol of one or more railways. This proved to be a good thing 
for Mr. Shonts. General Drake had come to know Mr. Shonts 
well, recognizing his fine ability as a worker and organizer. 
Mr. Shonts gave up the practice of law and became per- 
manently identified with the management of railways. He 
has had many triumphs in his business career, but the one 

[387] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

that advanced him the highest as a railway president was 
when he took possession of the Toledo, St. Louis and Wes- 
tern Railway, extending from Toledo to St. Louis. When he 
became the head of this road, it consisted of little more than 
the right of way and two streaks of rust. It was in a deplor- 
able condition. It had been transformed from a narrow to 
a standard gauge. It had always been poor though it pene- 
trated for forty miles on either side a country as fertile as any 
in the West. He built up this road, in comparatively a short 
time, to such a position that it was able to purchase and take 
possession of the Chicago and Alton system, one of the best- 
paying railways in the country. 

Mr. Shonts was not much known to the general public 
until after his appointment by President Roosevelt as the 
head of the Isthmian Canal Commission. President Roose- 
velt wanted a man who was capable of doing things to take 
charge of affairs in Panama and direct the construction of the 
great canal. He cast about for some time before finding the 
man he wanted. He knew of Mr. Shonts' record as one whose 
*' hobby" was hard work. That suited President Roosevelt 
to a nicety. He sent for Mr. Shonts to come to Washington, 
not stating why he wished it. He might have thought the 
President "had it in" for him, as the head of several railways, 
and might want to classify him as among the "malefactors 
of great wealth," or the "criminal rich." Much to the sur- 
prise of Mr. Shonts, the President desired to confer upon 
him a high title — that of a man who was capable of managing 
a great undertaking. That President Roosevelt exhibited 
excellent judgment in the selection of Mr. Shonts no one has 
ever controverted. It is the big things of life that interest 
Mr. Shonts most. He has fine executive ability, and is a 
leader of men. When Thomas F. Ryan and other owners 
and directors of the transit companies of New York went 
in search of a man who could bring order out of chaos, and 
give to the people of that city some kind of decent service, 

[388] 



THEODORE P. SHONTS 

and at the same time protect the revenues of the company, 
they offered the position to Mr. Shonts. 

He has encountered obstacles in his present position that 
he had probably not anticipated, but at any rate, it would 
appear that he is again striking his gait, and will have these 
New York roads in as good financial condition, and the service 
as acceptable to the public, as are the Toledo, St. Louis and 
Western and Chicago and Alton systems, of both of which he 
is president. Mr. Shonts is coming in for his share of news- 
paper criticism in New York, but he has shown his philosophic 
turn of mind by smiling and not losing his temper. 

He shines in every sphere of life in which he is placed. 
When he casts aside the cares of business, he is quite another 
man. With him business is business, recreation is recreation. 
He cannot engage in the two at the same time, although he 
never permits pleasure to interfere with his business. Mr. 
Shonts is pleasing to look upon. He greets every one with a 
smile and a good, hearty shake of the hand. When meeting 
friends of long standing, he sometimes slaps them on the 
shoulder, calling them by their first names. This is a time 
when he may, with consistency, cast aside his usual dignity. 
If he does, it is simply because he is permitting his good 
nature to take possession of him. Mr. Shonts is always an 
agreeable host. He is a member of ten or fifteen of the most 
prominent clubs of the United States. He mingles much, with 
his interesting wife and daughters, in fashionable circles in 
New York, and also in London and Paris. He is too busy 
a man to find many opportunities for pleasures. He is a 
director of more than twenty-five large corporations in many 
parts of the country. He is a director who directs, not a 
"dummy." 



[389] 




HOKE SMITH 

ORMER Secretary of the Interior, former 
Governor of Georgia, and soon to be Gover- 
nor again. Governor Smith is one of the 
unique characters in American politics. He 
has achieved a great deal in his compara- 
tively short business career. He has had to 
fight, and fight hard, for everything he has 
acquired. It would seem that he has met a 
contestant at every corner of the road in life's endeavor. He 
has never been known to run away from any of his encounters. 
He has fought them out squarely in the middle of the road, 
and in full view of the public. When he first entered upon a 
business career in Atlanta, he was a struggling lawyer. He is 
an observing citizen. He quickly realized the slowness with 
which courts conducted their business when railroads were 
defendants. According to his way of thinking, the railroads 
were all too powerful over the State judiciary. Nearly all of 
the judges were traveling on railroad passes, which meant that 
railroads were not without their ''friends" on the State bench. 
He was not the enemy of railroads because they were railroads, 
but because, as he viewed it, of their unfair treatment of the 
public. He soon came to be known as the one lawyer in the 
State who could successfully contest with the railroads in some 
of the courts. He broke up a practice of judges granting con- 
tinuance after continuance, when asked for by the attorneys 
for the roads. He forced the issue so strongly that it had its 
effect, not only in Atlanta, but throughout the entire State. 
Later, Mr. Smith became the proprietor of the Atlanta Journal, 
an afternoon paper that has filled, and is filling, its mission as 
a servant to the public's best interests. He had a fight on his 
hands when he took up the newspaper business, and it was a 
nasty fight, too. The strength of his individuality was trans- 
ferred to the editorial pages of his paper. While others were 

[390] 



HOKE SMITH 

making it a bit warm for him, he was often making it quite a 
bit warmer for the others. He fought his own battles in his 
own way, and became a victor in all of them. 

When Mr. Cleveland was re-elected to the Presidency, 
in 1892, he desired a Southern man to take a place in his 
Cabinet. Hoke Smith had championed Mr. Cleveland during 
his first administration and was one of his most loyal sup- 
porters in the campaign of 1892, as he had been in 1884 and 
1888; in the latter year, however, he was defeated. Mr. 
Cleveland thought well of Air. Smith. He was then un- 
known outside of Georgia, and for that reason, no doubt, 
many Georgians thought he was not of sufficient caliber to 
become Cabinet timber. His chief competitor for the place was 
Colonel Morrison, of Illinois, who was backed by Mr. Carlisle. 
His political enemies in Georgia did almost evcrj^thing in their 
power to persuade Mr. Cleveland not to select Mr. Smith. 
They seemingly did not know Mr. Cleveland. Anyhow, 
Mr. Smith was invited by Mr. Cleveland to become his Secre- 
tary of the Interior, which ofiice he held for more than three 
years, and it is doubtful if ever there was a better Secretary 
of the Interior than he. Being a good lawyer, he was well 
equipped for the duties of his high office. Mr. Smith was 
loyal to his party after its nomination of Mr. Bryan at Chicago, 
in 1896. He was the only Cabinet officer who was. The 
party's promulgations upon this occasion were not in har- 
mony with the Cleveland policies, whereupon Mr. Smith 
resigned the office of Secretary of the Interior and gave Mr. 
Bryan loyal support. Though personally not in sympathy 
with all of the Nebraskan's ideas, he was all the time a 
loyal Democrat. In 1906, Mr. Smith was elected Governor 
of Georgia. He found, at the time of his inauguration, Joseph 
M. Brown, son of the late United States Senator Joseph E. 
Brown, a member of the State railroad commission. Mr. 
Brown had previously been general freight and passenger 
agent and traffic manager of the Western and Atlantic Rail- 

[391] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

way, and was tinctured, no doubt, with railroad ideas and 
probably a trifle too favorable to the demands of railroads, 
which did not at all agree with the vigorous contrary opinions 
expressed by Governor Smith. Mr. Brown has long been 
known as ''Little Joe," and he is quite an interesting charac- 
ter. His administration of his office as one of the railway 
commissioners was not pleasing to Governor Smith, where- 
upon, in rather a dramatic manner, he "fired" "Little Joe" 
out of ofiice in less than no time. This raised a terrible row. 
"Little Joe" was not without friends and supporters. The 
deposed "Little Joe" announced his candidacy for the Gov- 
ernorship, and there were hot doings from "Atlanta to the 
sea." Governor Smith went down to defeat, but, in less than 
two years, he proved to be one of those who could "come 
back." He made the declaration that "Little Joe" would 
have to "eat dirt," and he made good his word. "Little 
Joe" will most unwillingly surrender the office of Governor 
to Mr. Smith, who will, in the near future, enter upon his 
duties for a second term. Governor Smith is a big-brained, 
forceful, progressive, and resourceful man. He is a man who 
has never taken a step backward. He believes in the will of 
the people. When the Georgia legislature passed its State- 
wide prohibition bill, he was not personally in favor of it, but 
he assisted in making it a law by giving it his signature, and in 
doing so, he stated that as it was the will of the people, it should 
likewise be his. Governor Smith is a large man, measuring 
probably six feet one inch, and weighs 200 pounds or more. 
He is smooth-faced and an all-around imposing individual. His 
administration of the office of Governor for two years was 
highly approved, and his re-election after a bitter contest 
further shows the high confidence of the people in him. Gov- 
ernor Smith is most likely to be in the United States Senate 
before many years. If he has a fad, it is for hard work, and 
he has been a hard worker all his life. In dress. Governor 
Smith is always within the bounds of reason as to style. 

[392] 




MARCUS A. SMITH 

ORMERLY delegate in Congress from the 
Territory of Arizona. Mr. Smith was bom 
in Kentucky quite a few years before the 
Civil War. While almost everybody calls him 
"Mark" Smith, his given name is Marcus 
.\urelius Smith, and in a sense he looks the 
part. There arc few men in the United 
States who are more agreeable in their re- 
lationships with other men than is Mr. Smith. When he had 
reached the age of about thirty years, he came to the con- 
clusion that Kentucky might be a good State to get away 
from. He moved to Arizona. The political germ, it would 
appear, took possession of him at an early period. He had 
been in Arizona not more than a year when he announced 
himself as a candidate for prosecuting attorney. It is true, 
he was not much known at that time, but those who did know 
him said he was the right kind of a man to be elected, which 
he was, by a good big majority. It is a part of the history 
of Arizona that his administration of the office of prosecuting 
attorney was up to a high standard. He was prosecuting 
attorney in fact as well as in name. He hunted down the 
criminals and sent the guilty ones to the penitentiary. Others 
who knew themselves to be guilty left the Territory for the 
Territory's good, knowing that if Prosecuting Attorney Smith 
was ever able to prove their guilt, they would be compelled 
to go to the Territorial Institution, where criminals are housed, 
the same as the others. Mr. Smith's reputation as a fearless 
prosecutor spread throughout the Territory. As he became 
known in the Territory, his popularity increased. He is as 
good a pohtical mixer as one can ordinarily find. To know 

[393] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

Mark Smith is to like him. He quickly showed his talent 
as a lawyer, which brought him hosts of clients and all good- 
paying ones. He made money, and became one of the most 
progressive in the ''land of sunshine and silver," as he has 
sometimes designated Arizona. No one disputes that it is 
the land of sunshine, but of recent years Arizona has become 
the great copper-producing section of the country. 

Mr. Smith had been in Arizona but little over six years 
when he was elected as a Delegate to Congress. He has 
held aloft the banner of Arizona as no other man has. He 
fought for statehood with the determination that meant 
something. Many of his political enemies in Congress were 
inclined to do a great deal of jockeying incident to the admis- 
sion of Arizona to statehood. He insisted that it should 
become a State, and upon the terms laid down by himself 
and the Democrats of the Territory. His efforts were at 
last crowned with success, yet he was not a member of the 
Congress which passed the measure providing for statehood. 
He served in the 50th, 51st, 52nd, 53rd, 55th, 57th, 59th, 
and 60th Congresses, completing a period of sixteen years. 
There were times when he declined to be a candidate; once 
he was defeated at the polls by his Republican antagonist. 
Mr. Smith holds the record for having served longer in Con- 
gress as a Territorial Delegate than any other. The people 
of Arizona, regardless of politics, believe Mark Smith is as 
square a man as ever settled in that Territory. If he has 
any enemies, they are purely political, and not personal. 
During his sixteen years as a Delegate in Congress, he was 
a conspicuous figure about Washington. There are not 
many men in the country who are better story-tellers than he. 
He is usually the life of any party of which he may be a mem- 
ber. As a public speaker, he is entertaining, graceful, and 
convincing. He has to a well-developed degree the orator- 
ical qualities which seem inherent in Kentuckians. It is 
as easy for Mark Smith to make a good speech as it is for 

[394] 



MARCUS A. SMITH 

a duck to swim, although he has never been known to make a 
speech, except, as he saw it, for the purpose of meeting the 
exigencies of the occasion. He is not the man to proclaim 
publicly unless there is something to proclaim about and, in 
proclaiming, some good is to be accomplished. 

Mr. Smith is not only a man who does things, but he is a 
man who knows things. He is probably more familiar with 
ancient history than any one who ser\Td with him in Con- 
gress. He is an inveterate reader and an untiring worker. 
As Arizona is soon to be admitted as one of the sister States 
of the Union, it is bcHeved that higher political honors are 
in store for him. In politics Mr. Smith is a Democrat, bcHev- 
ing in the traditions of the Democratic party, as brought into 
bc'ing by its fathers. It is almost a certainty that Mr. 
Smith will be one of the two United States Senators from that 
State. Much will depend, however, on whether the Rcpub- 
Hcans or Democrats control the State, but judging from the 
vote for delegates to the constitutional convention, the new 
State will be Democratic, and in this event he will, in good 
time, become Senator Marcus Aurelius Smith, of Arizona. 
If any man in the State is entitled to Senatorial honors, it is 
Mr. Smith, for no one has performed more service for the 
Territory than he. In personal appearance, Mr. Smith is 
ranked among those who are fine looking. His iron-gray hair 
gives him a distinguished appearance. He wears a mus- 
tache which is also gray. WTien it comes to knowing the 
correct stvlcs in men's apparel, it is evident that he keeps 
in touch with the views of the designers. A long residence 
in Arizona has not lessened his knowledge of what is going 
on in the fashionable world. He is as much at home, how- 
ever, among the wool-hat element in Arizona as he is at 
Washington among his colleagues in Congress. He is a 
man of "the times, and a man for the place he has so long and 
honorably filled, and for the higher positions he seems des- 
tined to occupy. 

[395] 




JAMES SMITH. JR. 

NE OF the largest leather manufacturers in 
the United States. Mr. Smith is a native 
of New Jersey, where he has lived all his 
life, the city of Newark being his home. He 
was educated in Wilmington, Del., and at 
one of the higher institutions of learning 
in his own State. His first business venture 
was as a merchant. He chose to go in the 
dr}'goods business, and in this he made a fine success, laying 
the foundation of what has since become a large fortune. It 
is believed there are not many men who have given closer 
study to the industrial development of the country than has 
Mr. Smith. He was one of the pioneers in the manufacture 
of leather in its various new processes. The plan laid down 
by him originally in the treatment of leather has come to be 
adopted throughout the entire country, and also in some 
European countries. He saw the future of the leather indus- 
try as one of the largest in the country. It is beheved he was 
the first in the United States to manufacture patent and 
enameled leather. He started in as a small manufacturer, 
but his establishment now has a larger producing power than 
any other of its kind. Some say he is the largest manufac- 
turer of leather in the world, with the possible exception of 
a few of the great manufacturers in Russia. Mr. Smith has 
been a busy man all his life. He has never had much time 
for recreation, except an occasional journey to Europe of two 
or three months every two or three years. He has been promi- 
nent in politics in New Jersey. For several years he was a 
member of the city council of Newark, and it is said of him 
that he was a good councilman. He was repeatedly offered 

[396] 



JAMES SMITH, JR. 

the unanimous nomination for mayor of the city of Newark, 
but he declined. He did not care to make a business of 
politics, because he had all the business he could attend to in 
the leather trade. There came a time, however, when the 
Democratic party, of which he has always been a member, 
was in position to confer upon him high and deserved 
political honors. 

In 1893, he was elected to the United States Senate, and 
served in that body for six years. As a Senator he developed 
well. The country took his measure as a man of affairs, and 
was apparently satisfied that he was of the right kind. He 
took into the political arena the same breadth of mind which 
had distinguished him as a manufacturer — one of the real 
movers in industrial progress. He served his State and the 
country well while in the Senate. He was not trained in the 
school of oratory or in the forum of debate. He did, how- 
ever, make a number of good, strong, sensible speeches in the 
Senate, which reflected credit upon those who had sent him 
there. Mr. Smith was brought up a Democrat in the school 
of Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, Amasa J. Parker, of New 
Jersey, and other Democratic wheel horses of their time and 
period. Mr. Smith has never been attracted to the new isms 
that have arisen, yet concedes that no great harm has come 
to the country in consequence of their being injected into the 
political equation. He is a firm believer in the benefit derived 
from campaigns of education. He believes it the duty of the 
people so to familiarize themselves with all of the leading 
political issues that when it comes to voting they may be 
capable of exercising judgment and not be carried away 
by prejudices. Mr. Smith has been conspicuous at several 
Democratic national conventions. In the conventions of 1884, 
1892, and 1896, he was the chairman of the New Jersey dele- 
gations. Mr. Smith is a gentleman who is likevdse a close 
observer of the financial problems of the country. He is 
president of the Federal Trust Company of Newark and a 

[397] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

director in quite a large number of financial institutions, 
both in the State of New Jersey and in the city of New York. 
Mr. Smith is not only large of brains and large of ideas, 
but he is large in stature. If one may judge from his personal 
appearance, he lives an ideal life of simpHcity. His cheeks 
are as rosy as a schoolboy's. He is as good-natured as any 
one in his community. It is rarely that he is known 
to be angry. This trait, however, is reputed to march hand 
in hand with corpulency. Mr. Smith will weigh probably 
more than two hundred and fifty pounds. He has hosts of 
friends in New Jersey. He has never permitted politics to 
interfere with his personal relations with either his neigh- 
bors or his business associates who may not think as he does. 
New Jersey is proud of Mr. Smith, and he is, no doubt, proud 
of New Jersey, as he well should be. The State has been 
good to him, and it is believed he has paid, with interest, 
every debt he owed the commonwealth. His acts, as a public 
servant of the people, have, it would seem, been of such a 
character as to meet their highest approval. He ranks among 
the rich men of his State. His fortune may run into the 
millions. He has accumulated the same largely through his 
individual industry, yet he is sufficiently sagacious to take 
advantage of every business opportunity. He knows the 
game of the leather trade as perfectly as any other man. He 
has studied it, and studied it thoroughly. With him, business 
is business. There is no sentiment, according to his standard, 
in the accumulation of money. He does not need all the 
money he has, but he finds pleasure in acquiring more of 
it. He is not close when it comes to spending it, although 
he is of an economic turn of mind. In early life he was 
taught how hard it was to secure money when he wanted to 
negotiate his first loan. This taught him a lesson which 
has been useful to him. Mr. Smith is a splendid represen- 
tative of that class of manufacturers who have advanced 
American industries to the top notch. 

[398] 




WATSON C. SQUIRE 

T HAS fallen to the lot of few men who 
have served a comparatively short time in 
Congress to reach the eminence attained by 
Watson Carvosso Squire. In the annals 
of the public senice of the Territory and 
State of Washington, and of the creation of 
the State from the Territory in 1889, no 
name is more prominent or more deserv- 
edly so than his. He is one of the few men from the 
State of Washington who became national characters in the 
largest sense of the word, and one who gave to the State its 
earliest prestige at the National Capital. Kjiown in his home 
State as one of its Territorial governors, one of its first Sen- 
ators, the only United States Senator from his State who has 
ever been re-elected, and the man who secured some of the 
largest Government works for the State, Senator Squire is 
equally well known and remembered at the National Capital 
as a statesman of broad abilities, the father of the principal 
coast defense legislation in this country, and a courteous and 
lovable companion, whose friendship was prized by the ablest 
men in national affairs. His services to the nation began 
before his first visit to the Far West in 1879, ^-nd the earher 
years of his career are filled with interesting and stirring events, 
approaching in importance his later work as Governor and 
Senator. 

Senator Squire was born in New York in 1838. His 
father was a Methodist Episcopal clergyman, and on both 
sides his family was descended from pre-Revolutionary days. 
The Senator was graduated from Wesleyan University, 

[399] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

Middletown, Conn., in 1859. He studied law, and was 
shortly afterward, in spite of his youth, made principal of the 
Moravia Institute at Moravia. Then the war broke out. 
Squire enlisted in the Nineteenth Regiment, New York Volun- 
teers. He was elected a captain, but with the modesty that 
has always characterized him, declined to accept, believing that 
the place should go to an older man. He was appointed first 
lieutenant and made a distinguished record throughout the 
war, finally becoming judge advocate under General Thomas. 
Later he was made judge advocate of the military district of 
Nashville, Middle Tennessee, and Northern Alabama, on the 
staff of General Rousseau. He was the reviewing officer of 
all military courts in the district, passing upon all findings and 
sentences and at one period supervising the work of twenty-one 
separate courts. The judge advocate general especially com- 
mended him and he was finally brevetted colonel by the Sec- 
retary of War. After the war Colonel Squire went to New 
York and accepted a position with the Remington Arms Com- 
pany, becoming successively secretary, treasurer, and manager. 
Through his position there he became widely known as an 
authority on firearms and assisted to establish a world-wide 
trade for his company. 

In 1879, Colonel Squire was called on a business trip to 
San Francisco, and afterward he went through the Territory of 
Washington. He saw the great possibilities of that Territory, 
and decided that it would be his future home. He took a 
prominent part in the business affairs of the State, and was 
considered one of its foremost citizens. In 1884, President 
Arthur made him Governor of the Territory, which position 
he held for three years. Those were the days that made the 
West, and the tasks thereof were constantly coming before him. 
Upon their solution depended much of the Coast's future, and 
Governor Squire made good. The best proof of it is that in 
1889 Washington became a State. Then there was only one 
thing left — Squire was chosen Senator, and he is the only 

[400] 



WATSON C. SQUIRE 

Senator from Washington who has ever been honored by a 

reelection. 

Much was expected of the new Senator by his constitu- 
ents; little was at first conceded by his older fellow-Senators. 
How successful he was in meeting this condition is shown by 
his record of accomplishments, for not only was his period in 
Congress marked by immense Government improvements 
in Washington and Alaska, but he did not confine his efforts, 
like so many members of Congress, to looking after the needs 
of the section he represented. Senator Squire took a promi- 
nent part in all matters of national welfare, the national 
defenses, the tariff and currency questions, the Chinese prob- 
lem, the Alaskan boundary, and other leading questions of 
the day. He took an active interest in the immigration 
question and was a member of the committee that selected 
Ellis Island in New York as the station to receive immigrants. 
He also assisted to estabHsh the United States Marine hos- 
pital service on a firmer foundation by an amendment which 
he introduced. He obtained the erection of an important 
United States Marine Hospital at Port TowTisend. He was 
known as a tireless committee worker, and a gifted orator on 
the floor of the Senate, as well as a keen impromptu debater. 
With his colleague. Senator John B. Allen, who came 
from eastern Washington, Senator Squire agreed that they 
should each work for all needed improvements in the State, 
but should take care of the details of affairs each for his own 
section. Almost the first benefit which he was able to ob- 
tain for his State was the appropriation for building the naval 
station and dry-dock at Bremerton, which had already been 
recommended by two separate boards of naval officers, but 
not acted upon by Congress. In fact, it was Senator Squire 
who first obtained recognition of Puget Sound as one of the 
great harbors of the United States, entitled to just as much 
attention in respect to hght-houses, coast defenses, revenue 
cutter and customs service, hfe-saving protection and aids to 
26 [ 401 ] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

navigation, as any of the other great seaports which the Gov- 
ernment had been improving for years. In one session he 
secured an increase of the rivers and harbors appropriation 
for the State from $103,350 to $168,470.92, and at the follow- 
ing session Congress increased the amount to $225,000. 

Not all of this was spent on Puget Sound. Senator Squire 
was a strong friend of improvements — especially river and 
harbor improvements — and the Columbia, Snake, Okanogan, 
Chehahs, and Cowlitz rivers secured shares of the appropria- 
tions. Other funds were used to improve the harbors of 
Everett and Olympia as well as Grays Harbor and Willpa 
Harbor, in southwestern Washington. 

Among other measures of greatest importance to the 
State first brought to the attention of Congress by Senator 
Squire, were these: 

To provide for tests of American timbers with a view, 
particularly, to establish the superior qualities of the timber 
of his own State. 

For the creation of a national park and forest reserve, 
including Mt. Rainier. 

For a relief light- vessel for the Pacific Coast. 

To regulate the time and places of holding United States 
courts in the State of Washington. 

To grant jurisdiction in cases relating to land entries. 

To ratify agreements with certain Indian tribes. 

For the relief of purchasers of lands in railroad land 
grants. 

For the erection of a statue to Gen. U. S. Grant. 

For public buildings at Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane, and 
Walla Walla. 

Granting 5 per cent of public land sales to the State 
of Washington. 

That Senator Squire did not remain longer in the Senate 
was due to the free-silver-Populistic wave which swept over 
the Northwest and carried the State of Washington, costing 

[ 402 ] 



WATSON C. SQUIRE 

her the services of her most efficient pubHc servant. While he 
was in the Senate, Squire not only obtained more accord- 
ingly for the State than any other Senator, before or after 
him, but did so without the usual assistance of colleagues 
from the State. A deadlock in the Washington legislature, 
continuing for about three years, left Senator Squire alone 
in the Senate during this entire period. 

While in the Senate, Colonel Squire found the coast de- 
fense plan in a chaotic state. Members of Congress, as a 
rule, were unfamiliar with the coast defense needs. He took 
hold of the recommendations of the Army engineers and 
planned the legislation which resulted in the present system 
of defenses. In one session he increased the appropriations 
for coast defenses from $600,000 to $11,500,000, eleven 
million five hundred thousand dollars that is, the cash appro- 
priation was seven million five hundred thousand dollars and 
contracts were authorized to the extent of four million dollars 
additional, thereby laying the foundation for annual appro- 
priations which will amount in the aggregate to about $125,- 
000000. He initiated the legislation for the rating of naval 
engineers as officers of rank, and his work for the engmeers 
resulted in his election to honorary membership in the Society 
of Marine Engineers. His efforts were largely instrumental 
in increasing the revenue-cutter service and putting it on a 

useful basis. 

How Senator Squire accomplished what he did, coming 
as a new Senator from a new State, is an interesting story 
of statesmanship and diplomacy. By instinct and training 
a man of large grasp on whatever matter claimed his atten- 
tion. Senator Squire was gifted as an orator and debater 
and often carried on the floor of the Senate, by his individual 
efforts, points which he could not win by poHtics or persuasion 
in committee. In committee he was a tireless worker, and a 
man who inspired confidence and secured the best of results 

from his co-workers. 

[403] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

Socially, he was one of the most popular men in Congress, 
and his hospitality was known from one end of the Capital to 
the other, not from any lavish display, but chiefly from its 
good taste and the personal qualities of the host and his charm- 
ing wife. 

His extensive travel, his interest in national and inter- 
national art, and his personality all entered into this feature 
of his success. Among the Senators from the South he num- 
bered a host of warm friends, and he held their support in 
Congress as no other Northerner did. Time and again he 
enlisted their aid, with that of the men from the Far West, to 
force upon Congress a reaHzation of the needs of the Pacific 
Coast. Without indulging in any petty scheming, Senator 
Squire was known as a consummate politician, and his influ- 
ence was felt in every section of the country. He did not 
hesitate to work for needed improvements in other States 
than his own, and often introduced bills for public buildings 
or other improvements in Eastern or Southern cities where he 
believed they were needed. So wide was his personal popular- 
ity that at the close of one session Senator Allison asserted 
that Senator Squire had been the greatest personal success 
of any man in that Congress. 

It will hardly be questioned that Washington has never 
had, in either Hall of Congress, or in any other field of public 
activity, a man who so thoroughly merited the name of states- 
man in its largest sense as Watson C. Squire. Never sensa- 
tional, he was a leader of men in large affairs, calm and firm 
in judgment, unflinching in matters where his mind was set, 
and yet a man of consummate tact in winning friends and 
support where to court opposition would be fatal. To men- 
tion his high principles of personal honor is unnecessary. 
Without them no man can attain such success. Senator 
Squire's personal and private Hfe has always been one worthy 
of a man who naturally has been an example to thousands. 
The State of Washington owes no greater gratitude to any 

[404] 



WATSON C. SQUIRE 

of her citizens who have helped her to develop into a leading 
commonwealth. 

Since his retirement from public life Senator Squire has 
lived quietly in Seattle, still making his influence felt in affairs 
of public interest, where the welfare of the city or State are at 
stake, and freely lending the value of his assistance and advice 
to his successors in public office. 



[405] 




AUGUSTUS OWSLEY STANLEY 

'S LONG as the South remains a distinct sec- 
tion of the country in its manners and cus- 
toms, it will continue to send to Congress 
such men as Augustus Owsley Stanley, of 
Kentucky. It is in the nature of the Southern 
people to believe that the power of oratory is 
a great and a worthy one, and that those 
whose tongues are forged of silver can do 
the work of Congress. 

Also, in the South the men who love the arts are not con- 
sidered unfitted for public life. The North sends to Congress, 
to the House, at least, its commercial captains who have 
made their fortunes, its civic reform lawyers, its creators of 
remarkable political machines. The South, on the contrary, 
frequently sends a young man whose only qualification is 
his great talent of speech and whose only fortune is his splen- 
did fund of classical information. 

Such, when he came to Congress ten years ago, was Stanley. 
He had been in the Second District, which elected him, only 
a year or two, but during that time he had established a repu- 
tation as a criminal jury lawyer, and as an orator of real 
splendor. The girl who afterward became his wife asked 
Stanley one day, at what they term in the South a "speaking," 
why he did not run for Congress. Stanley, then as now 
moved by prophetic impulses, said that he would run, and he 
did. He was nominated and elected, and four times more 
the district has done the same thing (albeit an unprecedented 
performance) for this man of charming parts of speech and 
personality, for this delver into the witcheries of literature and 

[406] 



AUGUSTUS OWSLEY STANLEY 

art. He belongs to the rare class called geniuses, and Stanley's 
genius is variously displayed. 

In the North Stanley would have been any one of three 
things: a remarkable criminal lawyer, an author of distinction, 
or a United States Senator. In Kentucky, or anywhere in the 
South, it was the most natural thing in the world to send him 
to Congress. 

The value of such selection has been demonstrated. Stan- 
ley's indictment, in a speech in Congress, of the American 
Tobacco Company, known as the tobacco trust, resulted in 
the institution of proceedings against that company. More, 
every expose made in Stanley's speech was used by the 
Attorney-General of the United States in his opening brief. 
More recently, Stanley determined to secure an investigation 
of the United States Steel Corporation by the same means. 
He forced the almost impossible result of having the Repub- 
lican House call upon the Attorney- General for information 
about the trust. A few days afterward Stanley offered a 
resolution appointing a House committee to investigate the 
steel trust, and while he failed to get that measure out of 
committee before the close of the first regular session of the 
Sixty-first Congress, he used it as a club to kill one of the 
measures of President Taft, which was also lodged in 
committee. 

Whenever the grower, the farmer, the planter, the miner, 
the poor of the cities, the uneducated of the land are con- 
cerned in legislation before the House, Stanley is up. His 
speech is usually a gem of oratory and a trove of Hterary and 
historical reference. It is never sophomoric. His rising 
in the House means a hasty assembling, for the Congress 
appreciates the eloquence and the freshness of Stanley. His 
wit is sparkling, and he can rarely resist interrupting a par- 
ticularly solemn or a diametrically opposed speaker with some 
keen query that sets the House and the galleries into guffaws. 
His humor is not partisan. During the long session of the 

[407] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

Sixty-first Congress, a Democrat was on his feet quarreling 
with his party because it had agreed with the Republican 
regulars on a measure. 

''Whenever I see the regular Republicans," shouted this 
Democrat, "'taking one direction, I take the other." 

"Suppose," said Stanley, "that these old political sinners 
repented and were going to heaven, would the gentleman go 
in the other direction?" 

The House did not recover its breath for some minutes 
after this. 

Stanley, in appearance, is a stocky man under a slouch 
hat. His hair is thin and graying; his eyes are vivid, sparkHng, 
and brown. His mouth and smile are as sweet as those of a 
woman ; the shape of his head and the contour of his face are 
very strong. In many ways he is a reminder of that cavalier 
Stanley to whom the dying Marmion shouted: 

"On, Stanley, on!" 

For Stanley, of Kentucky, too, fights with the rapier, but 
it is the rapier of his tongue and of his wit. 



[408] 




GEORGE W. STEVENS 

'resident of the Chesapeake and Ohio 
Railway. Mr. Stevens began his railroad 
career when about fifteen years old. For 
nearly a year he received a monthly stipend 
of something like sixteen dollars, a part of 
which he always saved. Some may be of 
the impression that the "W" in Mr. Stevens' 
name stands for Washington, which it does 
not. It is Walter. George Walter Stevens can lay claim 
to the distinction of being responsible for his own advance- 
ment in the world of railway operations. He was born in 
Ohio, although he spent most of his younger life in Indiana. 
For several years he was identified with the old Indianapolis 
and Peru Railroad, with headquarters at Peru. He was 
superintendent of that and other lines for a number of years, 
then he became general superintendent, and later general 
manager. He is regarded as one of the best and safest rail- 
road managers. He has never had anything to do with a road 
that he did not leave in better condition than when he went 
with it— financially, physically, and otherwise. He became the 
general manager of the Chesapeake and Ohio when Melville E. 
Ingalls was its president. Mr. Ingalls, always a keen observer 
of men, usually succeeded in getting the best men possible 
about him. Mr. Stevens chanced to be one of them. He 
became so capable a general manager that when Mr. Ingalls 
retired as president, the directors, after looking round a bit, 
made up their minds they could not find a more competent 
and better equipped man for the position than Mr. Stevens. 
He has directed the affairs of the Chesapeake and Ohio as 
president for the last ten years, about. The road has pro- 

[409] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

gressed under his administration to the point where it is 
regarded as one of the best-managed trunk lines. He has 
equipped it with some first-class, up-to-date rolling stock and 
motive power, which has given it an earning capacity far sur- 
passing the expectations of the most hungry stockholder. He 
has given, probably, more attention to the prompt movement of 
trains on his road than any other president. This is a subject 
to which few railway presidents seem to pay any attention. Mr. 
Stevens is a man who never likes being delayed in anything 
he undertakes. He doesn't have much use for employes 
who cannot get trains over the road on time. He has im- 
pressed on all of his operating men that one of the most impor- 
tant factors in conducting a railway is the prompt, regular, 
and punctual movement of its trains. He never tolerates 
trains being delayed when it is possible to have them depart 
and arrive on time, well knowing that if a road is properly 
managed, and by competent men, it is as easy to have trains 
move on time as it is to run them along in a haphazard way, 
without regard to the interests of the road's patrons. 

When viewed as a financial manager, Mr. Stevens has 
demonstrated that he has excellent ability on those lines, as 
well as in the traffic or operating departments. He never 
attempts to do anything sensational; yet he is not averse to 
having his trains speeded at high rate when it is possible. He 
was once twitted about the premier train on the road bearing 
the title of the F. F. V. Some friends wanted to know if the 
initials stood for the ''first fast train in Virginia." He replied 
by saying that it meant the "fastest fast train in Virginia." 
Mr. Stevens has, by increasing the earning power of the road, 
been able to lay a few hundred miles of double track, and it 
is believed, if he continues at the head of the company, will, 
within a few years, have the entire system double-tracked from 
Cincinnati to Norfolk. Mr. Stevens is not only a good railroad 
man, but he is handy at many other things. He has acquired 
a comfortable fortune, though he is by no means a rich 

[410] 



GEORGE W. STEVENS 

man. He doesn't seem to care very much for money, except 
to use it moderately. He has some few extravagant tastes, 
but not many extravagant habits. His headquarters is at 
Richmond, Va.; at least, it is so stated in the official railway 
guide. The truth is, his headquarters is in his private car. 
He moves from one end of the road to the other, and on all 
the private branches very often, entirely too often to please 
some of the employes who show a disposition, when his visits 
are less frequent, to drop down from the high standard set by 
the president. 

Mr. Stevens, when he became president of the road, pur- 
sued the conservative and safe policy of his predecessor. He 
did not make a wholesale removal of faithful employes, as so 
many presidents have done, are now doing, and will continue 
to do. He has retained the services of Harry W. Fuller at 
the head of the passenger department, which is high recogni- 
tion of that gentleman's usefulness to the Chesapeake and 
Ohio system. For more than thirty years, Mr. Fuller was 
general passenger agent, until promoted by Mr. Stevens to 
the position of passenger traffic manager. Mr. Stevens is 
a man of solid build and excellent proportions. He is in 
the neighborhood of six feet in height, weighing something 
over two hundred pounds. He usually wears a mustache. 
He is always quiet and dignified. He never does anything 
to attract attention to himself personally. No one would 
know he is president of a railroad if it were left for him to tell 
it. He has quite a fondness for dogs and horses, which is 
always a good sign of a man's disposition. He likes books, 
too. He is not so constituted that he must constantly have 
excitement to be amused or entertained. He prefers leading 
a quiet, unobtrusive life. When he retires from railroad- 
ing, he is the kind of a man who will seek the quietude of 
the country. 



[411] 




MELVILLE E. STONE 

'eNERAL manager of the Associated 
Press, which collects and disseminates news 
throughout the world. Mr. Stone can see 
a piece of news on the far side of a millstone 
quicker than almost any one else. He has a 
natural genius for finding out what is going 
on. He began his business career as a 
newspaper reporter on the Chicago Tribune. 
This was in the early seventies. He was born at Hudson, 111., 
the son of a minister. He got the newspaper instinct early in 
life, and none of his family, nor even himself, was ever able 
to understand where he acquired the germ. Hudson was 
too small for him. Chicago was more his size. After some 
five or six years' service on The Tribune, he established the 
Chicago Evening News. His partner furnished most of the 
money, he contributing the greater part of the experience. 
Later, he bought out his partner's interest,' becoming the 
sole proprietor and director of the afternoon print. With 
Victor W. Lawson, he started The Morning News, which was 
afterward christened the Chicago Record, now The Record- 
Herald. After selling his interest in the Chicago papers, he 
founded the Globe Banking Company. While Mr. Stone 
was a conservative banker, it was evident there was not enough 
excitement about a bank to interest him sufficiently. To 
conduct a bank on good lines of finance, it is in no sense a 
news-producing institution. It is when bankers go wrong 
that newspapers take any particular notice of them, other 
than to print the annual bank statement about the first of 
each January. Mr. Stone saw to it that none connected 
with the Globe bank should do anything startling; therefore, 
it is easily seen that from his taste there was a wide chasm 
between conducting a newspaper in Chicago, with an occa- 

[412] 



MELVILLE E. STONE 

sional sensational attachment, and guiding a stable financial 
institution. About the middle nineties, he was selected as 
the one man in the United States to revive the fortunes of the 
declining Associated Press. This news-gathering organiza- 
tion had met with stubborn rivalry and needed a man of Mr. 
Stone's originality to make it get out and do something. He 
had no sooner graced his office desk than new life was instilled 
into the concern, from one end of the country to the other. 
He had a big fight on his hands in competing with his then 
formidable rivals, but later he got things into his own way of 
working, and, to a very great extent, is now the complete 
master of the news-gathering business, not only in the United 
States, but throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa. In truth, 
there is hardly a place on the civilized globe in which Mr. 
Stone has not got a representative for the Associated Press. 

Through his personal efforts, he was able to bring about 
a condition of affairs in Russia, so far as getting news is con- 
cerned, that had never before prevailed in that country. Noth- 
ing was permitted to appear in any of the Russian papers 
without first being censored by Government authorities. It 
was the same in telegraphing news out of the country. If the 
Russian Government didn't Hke the character of the news, it 
was destroyed. Mr. Stone made a visit to Russia, where he 
was received by the present Czar. That placid smile for 
which Mr. Stone is noted did its deadly work. Before re- 
tiring from the palace, :Mr. Stone had in his possession a brief 
document signed by the Ruler of all the Russias, giving to the 
Associated Press Hberties and concessions of such a character 
as to mean that the Association could handle all the news out 
of Russia without strict Government censorship. This was 
before the beginning of hostilities between Russia and Japan. 
During the progress of that war, St. Petersburg was naturally 
a city from which came news of almost everything pertaining 
to Russia and Russian- Japanese affairs. The volume of news 
that came from St. Petersburg was astonishing, because of its 

[413] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

fullness. It was handled diplomatically, so much so that Russia 
never took offense at anything Mr. Stone's organization did. 

Mr. Stone, during the time he has been general manager 
of the Associated Press, has visited almost every country on 
the globe. He has established friendly relations with nearly 
every monarch in the world. He has created the impression 
with foreign Governments that in all the news that is dissemi- 
nated about them, his first purpose is to give them fair 
treatment. This, it would seem, he has religiously done. 
He has a faculty for making friends. He knows some one 
in every prominent city in the world. If anything unusual 
takes place of a news nature, Mr. Stone telegraphs to his cor- 
respondent, no matter where it may be, to see So-and-so. It 
may be a banker, a poKtician, a haberdasher, or a shoemaker. 
To know people is one of the essentials in the collection of 
facts as news matter. Mr. Stone is a sharp, shrewd, keen 
man. He is small in stature. He is not much of a talker, 
except when talk is a necessity. He is as likely to wear a 
green necktie as anything else, and if there is any color he 
should not wear, it is green. He has a bland smile, which 
may mean several things. Mr. Stone became the patient of 
a dentist when the science of dentistry was not as advanced 
as it is to-day. The gold in his teeth is conspicuous — really 
the only conspicuous thing about him. He may not look as 
if he possessed the master news-gathering mind that he does, 
but sometimes appearances are deceiving. He can come about 
as near doing three things at one time as any man in the 
country. His quickness in grasping situations is marvelous, 
denoting a clear head and active brain. When seen in public, 
he usually wears a long frock-coat and sometimes a soft black 
hat. If there is ever any change in fashions, he does not 
seem to have found it out, though he knows about everything 
else going on in the world. He likes to wear fancy-colored 
socks. He usually affects low shoes. Some men are proud 
of their feet. His are small. 

[414] 




WILLIAM J. STONE 

'EXATOR in Congress from the State of 
Missouri. Mr. Stone first saw the light of 
day in old Kentucky. He does not object 
to the whole world knowing where he was 
born; but, while proud of this fact, he 
docs not wish it understood that he is not 
filled with pride at the greatness and gran- 
deur of his adopted State, Missouri. Sen- 
ator Stone is not one of those Missourians who find it neces- 
sary to ^'be shown." In the political life of the State, he has 
been the kind of man who has been ''showing" others. 
To the credit of Missouri, Senator Stone went to that State 
when he was a young man, and has grown up with it, so to 
speak. He has a long list of official honors to his credit. 
After scr\'ing as prosecuting attorney for one term, he was 
elected a Representative to Congress at Washington. Later 
he became Governor of Missouri. Some time following his 
retirement from this office, he was elected to the United States 
Senate. He has become a prominent figure in national 
pontics— in truth, one of the leading members of the Demo- 
cratic party. He has frequently been identified with the 
national committee in an advisory capacity, thereby being 
one of the managers of the party. Senator Stone can look 
back upon his official past with a degree of satisfaction that 
in all of the public trusts he has filled, his record has been 
honorable. As a political speaker, Senator Stone is not en- 
dowed with the graces of oratory, but his speeches are con- 
vincing. He has the faculty of saying a great deal in a few 
words. He can put as much pohtical commendation or 
venom in a brief paragraph as any other man in public life. 

[415] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

The manner in which he can ''ring the changes" on his political 
opponents makes liim one of the delights of the Democratic 
side of the Senate. It can be said of Senator Stone that he is 
never idle. He keeps a special scrap book of what he regards 
as the ''misdeeds" of his political adversaries. 

Senator Stone has in some way acquired the reputation 
of being a bit mysterious, at times, in advancing the fortunes 
of his own and the Democratic party. This would indicate 
that he has never found it advisable to make any great amount 
of noise. He believes that it is the better part of wisdom to 
keep one's counsel, until plans are matured, and that has 
been his policy. He is not the man to wake up a whole 
community by swooping down upon it as one would in pro- 
moting chariot races. He requires neither music, flags, nor 
banners. During the debate on the Payne-Aldrich tariff 
bill. Senator Stone was always forceful in combating such men 
as Senator Aldrich and his followers, who believe in an ex- 
tremely high tariff, while Senator Stone stands for a more 
modified method of levying imports. There was a time when 
Senator Stone wore a beard, especially when he was a Repre- 
sentative in Congress. When he returned to the Senate a 
few years later, he was without one, and none of his old friends 
knew him. He is not a many-sided man. He is what Shake- 
speare would have described as plain and blunt. What he has 
to say, he says shortly, quickly, and to the point. He keeps 
close account of the doings of Congress, and is a careful reader 
of the Congressional Record. He possesses that fertility of 
mind that remembers to-day what a rival Senator may have 
said on the same subject several years ago, and if by chance 
the rival "changes front," which some of them often do, 
Senator Stone is on hand to "start something." He is sel- 
dom absent at roll-call, which is a good sign that he is ever 
attentive to his duty. The Senator who votes right on every 
roll-call is usually one of the most valuable members of that 
body. As a public servant, he measures up well. He has an 

[416] 



WILLIAM J. STONE 

abiding faith in the integrity of the people. He is ever willing 
to let the people settle all poHtical questions, knowing that 
they will look at things usually in about the right way. 

In private life, Senator Stone is a man who has few, if 
any enemies. Politically, he is different. Many of his more 
intimate associates are frequently of the opposite party. 
This would clearly establish the fact that he does not permit 
politics to interfere with his personal relations with his fellow- 
man. Senator Stone is tall, probably an inch or more over six 
feet, and will weigh in the neighborhood of one hundred and 
seventy or one hundred and eighty pounds. He is what 
might be termed in the West as ''wiry." No mattter how 
long he may be engaged with a difficult task, no one has ever 
heard him complain of being tired. It is not his custom to 
go at tilings with a rusli. He is methodical and always de- 
hberate. WTien he determines to act, he does it with a force 
that carries uith it results. Sartorial artists — that is, tailors — 
would not pick Senator Stone out as a fashion model. If 
they did, they would get the worst of it in the end. He usually 
dresses in dark colors, though sometimes it might seem he 
has a fondness for a waistcoat of a few colors. It would not 
appear that he has ever attended a university where the 
correct method of tying a necktie is taught. Upon this sub- 
ject Senator Stone is a bit indifferent. He usually has at 
command a goodly supply of interesting stories. It is in the 
cloak room that Senator Stone shows his fund of humor, 
and he has his share of it. Out in the open arena of debate, 
he is dignified to a degree, symbolizing the traditions which 
have been handed down from the time of the formation of the 
Government — the representative statesman. He is some- 
times apparently diffident, which is next door to bashfulness. 
He is so retiring in disposition that he has oftentimes to be 
persuaded to appear in public. If Senator Stone has ever 
worn a silk hat, no one is living to tell the tale. He prefers 
the black derby, the straw, or the so-called "slouch" hat. 
^7 [417] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

With him a "slouch" hat and a Prince Albert coat are not 
incongruous. 

Senator Stone is particularly fond of poetry. He is much 
given to reciting lines from such authors as Shakespeare, 
Shelley, Poe, Longfellow, Whittier, and hosts of others. It is 
with great ease that he quotes from memory many of their 
choicest gems. He loves the company of those who, like him- 
self, are fond of poetr\'. He can entertain his friends by the 
hour in this way, and especially so when it comes to repeating 
lines from the choicest poems of the Masters. Senator Stone 
is full of sentiment. His heart is always young. He is gifted 
in being able to illustrate alfnost every incident of life by 
repeating a few lines of poetry to fit the occasion as well 
as the thought. 



[usl 




WILLIAM SULZER 

'EPRESEXTATR'E in Congress from the 
city of Xcw York. Mr. Sulzer has ever 
been the champion of the people. No one 
can accuse him of representing, in the halls 
of legislation, "interests" other than those 
of all the people. It has been his one am- 
bition, during his political career, to render 
such assistance as hes within his power to the 
class of f)eople who stand in need of such help. He is the 
friend of the poor. His record in public life is approved by 
this clement, and those who are his constituents cease not to 
sing his praises for the labors he has performed in their behalf. 
He represents a district in what is known as the East Side, 
where there is a large element of foreign population, and 
where the people, as a class, are not rich. Many arc well to do, 
while others are poor. His work in Congress has been upon 
broad lines, showing favoritism to none, unless it be to the 
poor and needy. It is believed by those who are most familiar 
with Mr. Sulzer's private and public life that there is no one 
in his district so humble that he would not be willing to make 
a personal sacrifice for their good. This is a proud record, 
and no one appreciates the good opinion held by his con- 
stituents more than does Mr. Sulzer. He has shown his friend- 
ship for those who risked their lives in defense of their country's 
honor. He has been the steadfast friend of the soldier boys — 
the boys in the trenches — those who did the real fighting. 
He has lifted his voice on numerous occasions in their behalf. 
So long as he remains in public life, it is safe to say that Mr. 
Sulzer's conduct will be as consistent in behalf of humanity 
as it has been. 

[419 ] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

It was through the indomitable energy and persistency of 
Mr. Sulzer that Congress was prevailed upon to pass an act 
authorizing the raising of the hulk of the battleship Maine, 
which was blown up in Havana Harbor on the 15th of Feb- 
ruary, 1898, so inflaming the country that nothing short 
of war with Spain would satisfy the people's demand for 
retribution, it being the popular belief that the ship was de- 
stroyed by friends of that nation, which seemed all the more 
horrible as the vessel was in the Havana waters not upon a 
hostile mission, but as a messenger of a friendly power. For 
more than ten years, Mr. Sulzer devoted much of his time 
to securing the passage of this act, but not until the session of 
Congress which closed June 25, 1910, did he succeed in having 
it done. For some unexplainable reason, some of the ''high 
powers" in the affairs of the Government were opposed to 
raising the Maine, fearing, it was stated in some quarters, that 
it might prove that the vessel was blown up from within in- 
stead of from without, and if this proved to be the case, the 
excuse of the United States for going to war with Spain would 
be worthless. 

Mr. Sulzer has, by his course in Congress, won lasting 
political friends, and personal as well. But in a political 
sense, it would seem that he is destined, at some time, to 
occupy a still higher place in the councils of the Democratic 
party, with which he has been so long identified. Mr. Sulzer 
is a modest gentleman, not much inclined to the brass-band 
idea of gaining public notice. He has reached the point in 
politics where he is measured by his acts, and judging from 
his popularity with his constituents, his record speaks louder 
than would words coming from himself. Mr. Sulzer has de- 
veloped into one of the very useful members of Congress. 
When entering that body, he was young and naturally not 
familiar with Governmental affairs. He has studied every 
question of legislation, thereby familiarizing himself with all 
measures, pending and prospective, that might be of interest 

[420] 



WILLIAM SULZER 

to all the people. Mr. Sulzer has taken for his patron saint 
in politics Samuel J. Tilden, whom he regards as the greatest 
Democrat since Thomas Jefferson. He was a boy when Mr. 
Tilden was a power in the affairs of men, but as time passes 
he has not lost interest in the principles of Democracy as 
upheld by the great Sage of Gramercy Park. It was through 
Mr. Sulzer's force and influence that Congress, in 1910, was 
prevailed upon to pass a resolution providing for the erection 
of a handsome statue to Mr. Tilden in Washington. 

Mr Sulzer was bom in Xcw Jersey. He was young when 
he went to live in New York. As a boy he was popular with 
his playmates. At school he was industrious and studious, 
yet always had time for play when play was permitted. In 
manners he is simplicity itself. He is honest and wants to be 
fair NN-ith everybody. When once a friend, he is a fnend 
indeed He is an enthusiast in behalf of those things which 
require immediate attention. He believes in doing the great- 
est crood to the greatest number. He contends that the man 
who'eams his bread by daily toil is as much a sovereign as the 
one who makes his millions in a month by jugghng with the 
stock markets in Wall Street. He is a respecter of property, 
and of those who have it, provided they have acquired it 
honestly When Mr. Sulzer first appeared in Congress, it was 
frequently remarked that in facial appearance he bore a strong 
resemblance to the paintings of Henr>' Clay. Those who have 
studied Mr. Sulzer closely and are familiar vvith the likeness 
of the great ''Harry of the West"-''The Mill Boy of the 
Slashes"-are impressed vvith the strong resemblance. Mr^ 
Sulzer, for one of his means, is extremely liberal. Jhe hand 
of need was never extended in his direction that he did not 
place something in it. He is always well-appeanng, dresses 
vv-ith becoming taste and vvith ordinary consideration for 
prevaihng custom. 



[421] 




CLAUDE A. SWANSON 

ORMER Governor of Virginia. On the re- 
assembling of Congress, in December, Mr. 
Swanson will take his seat in the United 
States Senate, succeeding the late John W. 
^ Daniel by appointment from the present 
Governor. Mr. Swanson has had a hard 
row to hoe in reaching his present political 
eminence. He was a country boy, having been 
brought up among farmers. He was bright and active in 
his early school days, which brought him to the favorable 
notice of his neighbors. In good time, young Swanson quit 
the farm and went to the nearest town, which chanced to be 
Chatham, and there he took service as a clerk in a grocery 
store. By nature polite and affable, it was soon observed 
that Clerk Swanson was the most popular young man in the 
town. It was a common saying among the customers at the 
trading place, that for courteous treatment no neighborhood 
could be more fittingly served than by him. His personality 
was so pleasing to all classes that it was a delight for them 
to make their purchases at the store where young Swanson 
was employed. Thus it will be seen that by his labors he 
advanced the fortunes of his employer. In good time, his 
personal popularity became pretty generally noised about 
through the country. He was destined for a political career, 
and mostly because of his courtesy and affability. A man 
who is personally unpopular seldom makes a success in politics. 
Young Swanson knew better than any one else on which side 
his bread was buttered. As a clerk in the store his hours were 
long. He was up early in the morning, and it was late at 
night before he got to sleep. Life about a country store is 

[422I 



CLAUDE A. SWANSON 

not one constant joy. After a while, people began talking 
about running Swanson for Congress. Some were not in- 
clined to take it seriously. He did not say much himself, but 
kept up a good bit of thinking. He had become a lawyer 
in the meantime. He was young, as a member of the bar, 
and for a beginner was a successful practitioner. Chents 
soon were coming his way. His ofhce became a popular 
rendezvous for the manipulators of rural politics. Mr. Swan- 
son was quickly classified among the rising young men of 
the county, and why not make him the county candidate for 
Congressional honors? The idea was no sooner formulated 
than it was put into execution. Mr. Swanson was named as 
the Congressional candidate of his district, and was tnumph- 
antly elected. In fact, he was re-elected quite a number of 
times His service in the House of Representatives was 
valuable, not alone to his immediate constituents and the 
interests of his State, but to the country in general. Dunng 
the major portion of his time in Congress, he was one of the 
representative men on the Committee on the Post-office and 
Post Roads He was the author of no little valuable legisla- 
tion relating to the improved postal ser^^ice of the county-. 
He took a strong position in favor of the installation of the 
rural free deliver)- ser^ice, which has been of untold benefit 
to those living in the rural sections. 

Before retiring from the House of Representatives he was 
casting his eagle eye in the direction of the Governorship of 
Vircnnia. In his first attempt to secure the nomination he 
was^nsuccessful, the victor being Andrew J. Montague. Mr. 
Swanson, however, bided his time, and when Governor Mon- 
tacnie's term was about to expire he announced his candidacy 
for the second time. He came to the front smiling and shaking 
hands .ith almost every voter in the State. He had good 
backing from many of the other influential men of the Demo- 
cratic party He carried off the honors with but httle, if any, 
opposition. He was elected by an immense majonty. His 

[423I 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

administration as Governor stands as one of the best in the 
State's history. It was a great leap for this once barefooted 
boy to become the successor of such men as Thomas Jeffer- 
son, James Monroe, James Madison, Henry A. Wise, Fitz- 
hugh Lee, and hosts of others distinguished in Virginia history. 
When Senator Daniel died, there seemed but one name men- 
tioned as his rightful successor. Governor Mann besto\ved Sen- 
atorial honors upon Mr. Swanson, and his act met with the 
prompt approval of the people. There is no reason to believe 
that when the legislature convenes Mr. Swanson will not be 
chosen by that body as his own successor. Mr. Swanson is in 
line to become one of the real powers in the political affairs 
of the country. 

Mr. Swanson is quite a young man to have achieved so 
much in the political world. He will be among the youngest 
in the Senate. He is a fine-looking young man, not, however, 
very large in stature, probably five feet nine or ten inches in 
height, and will tip the beam of the scales in the grocery store 
at about one hundred and sixty-five pounds. He is usually 
faultlessly attired. In the matter of hats, he clings to the 
Alpine style, although sometimes he is seen in a derby; but 
his preference is for the soft wool hat. Upon state occasions, 
he gets out the stove-pipe. It is good to gaze upon him when 
so attired. He is fond of social life. When Governor, the 
executive mansion was the social center of Richmond. He 
has not forgotten those who were barefoot boys with him in 
the country district. To them, he is the same to-day that 
he was when weighing coffee, sugar, bacon, and salt in the 
grocery store. He is distinctively a man of the people. That 
he will make one of the best Senators Virginia has ever had 
is not doubted. If any constituent in the State should want 
anytliing from Washington, all they will have to do will be 
to write to Senator Swanson. He will get it, if anybody can. 
With him, it is always a pleasure to serve his friends. There 
is no gainsaying that Senator Swanson is the architect of his 

[424I 



CLAUDE A. SWANSON 

own fortunes. He deserves more credit than he may receive. 
Mr. Swanson, a short time after becoming a member of 
Congress, married the beautiful ^liss Elizabeth Lyons, a 
daughter of one of the most prominent families in Virginia. 
Mrs. Swanson is particularly conspicuous, socially, in Wash- 
ington, and in Richmond, especially so when her husband was 
Governor, bringing to the executive mansion a social distinction 
that was never excelled in Virginia's capital. 



[425I 




WILLIAM H. TAFT 

'resident of the United States. Mr. Taft 
is a good representative head of a republic. 
He was thrust into public life and public 
office a short time after his graduation from 
college. The first money earned by Mr. 
Taft was as reporter on a Cincinnati daily 
paper. He had been but a few months from 
a five years' scholastic course at Yale, there- 
fore it was not out of the ordinary to expect that he had ideas 
upon the subject of reforming the world. He, no doubt, 
believed that he could best do this by entering the journalistic 
field, that he could give to the world once every day his ad- 
vanced ideas upon all public and private questions. The 
future President was not unlike a large number of young men 
on emerging from college, who are imbued with the idea that 
it is their duty to pay quickly the debt they owe to struggling 
humanity by teaching it wisdom. Mr. Taft, as a youngster, 
was much the same as other men of similar age. He did not 
adorn the charmed circle of journalism in any striking way. 
He possessed no special journalistic instincts. He did reach 
the point, though, where he knew a piece of news when he 
saw it. His mind ran in other channels, however. His next 
desire was to become a lawyer. It was proper that this 
should be the case. His father, Alphonso Taft, was for many 
years one of the foremost attorneys in Cincinnati. The 
young man's home life was in a kind of legal atmosphere, so 
to speak. He put aside, and for all time, newspaper report- 
ing, taking up the study of law, and patiently waiting for the 
coming of ch'ents after admission to practice. Some came. 

[426] 



WILLIAM H. TAFT 

William H. Taft, lawyer, the son of his father, was in line to 
render service for many of the prominent business firms of his 
home city, and so he did, but for a brief period only. 

The elder Taft was not without power in political circles, 
having been a member of President Hayes' Cabinet, and 
minister from the United States to Austria. He was a man of 
affairs. He had influence with President Chester A. Arthur. 
He persuaded the President to appoint the son collector of 
internal revenue at Cincinnati, much to the dismay and 
chagrin of the old-time political workers, who believed, in 
those days, as was the custom, that ''to the victor belong the 
spoils." Next he was appointed by Governor Forakcr to a 
judgeship on the State bench. President Harrison selected 
him for the office of Solicitor General of the United States. 
Previous to the termination of President Harrison's adminis- 
tration, he advanced Mr. Taft to a place on the Federal bench. 
President McKinlcy appointed him first at the head of the 
Philippine Commission, then Governor General of the Islands. 
President Roosevelt invited him to become his Secretary of 
War. The people elected him President of the United States. 
Mr. Taft can regard himself as unusually fortunate in having 
a brother, Charles P. Taft, who ranks among the richest men 
in Ohio, and who spent his money freely in advancing the 
political fortunes of the President; or, rather, in aiding him to 
become the executive head of the nation. Thus it will be 
seen that Mr. Taft has held office and drawn salary from the 
nation and from the State of Ohio almost continuously for 
about thirty years. It would be unfair not to state that in all 
the offices he has held he has measured up to the full require- 
ments of a faithful public official. 

It is the personal side of Mr. Taft that may, in this con- 
nection, be the most interesting. His simplicity of manner 
is one of his many commendable qualities. While a consistent 
party man, he is seldom offensively partisan. He believes in 
the principles of the Republican party, though some of his 

[427] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

most intimate friends, and sometimes political advisers, are of 
the opposite political faith. In the matter of physical activity. 
President Taft is, in many respects, the reverse of his imme- 
diate predecessor. President Taft is mentally and physically 
deliberate. The word " strenuosity " does not fit him as it 
does Mr. Roosevelt. This may be more comniendable than 
otherwise. Because President Taft is usually represented 
wearing a broad smile, it must not be taken as an indication 
that he is always in a good humor, and incapable of showing 
anger. The smile, which some say ''will not come off," is, in 
the opinion of many others, a kind of mask. In politics, 
he is cold-blooded. Sometimes he shows his mettle as a 
fighter, though at no time wielding the big stick. He gets 
mad, and oftentimes remains so for a long w^hile. His anger 
is slow in rising, but when once up, he does things and says 
things. He is not the man who goes hunting for trouble, but 
if it is in his \icinity, he will meet it face to face, if necessary. 
He is somew^hat given to putting off until the day after to- 
morrow what should have been done the day before yesterday. 
He has apparently never been impressed with the truth of 
the proverb: ''Procrastination is the thief of time." Small 
things annoy him, and the taking up of larger things he is 
inclined to put off as long as possible. He loves riding on the 
cars, not for the mere fact of riding, but to get away from the 
constant turmoil, where he can have rest and quiet. At times 
President Taft show^s a superb strength of character. At 
other times he exhibits a weakness that is not only surprising, 
but often mortifying to his friends. No one doubts, or has 
cause to impeach, his integrity. He aspires to do the right 
thing, but he does not always know just how to do it. 

In many of his public utterances, whether in speech or 
letter, he has made use of phrases that have later involved 
him in trouble. It is incidents of this character which have 
given rise to the somewhat jocular remark that "President 
Taft needs a manager." He is a man who sees only the con- 

[428] 



WILLIAM H. T.\FT 

Crete facts in a case, and reads only the political papers and 
semi-political magazines. He is sensid^-e to ciidcism. He 
\N"inces and generally gets much wrought up when reading 
what his offensive opponents say of him. He has quite a 
number of intimate friends, howex^er, to whom he likes to 
relate the glories of his achie\-ements and sometimes the story 
of his disappointments. Sometimes he is easily persuaded, 
while upon other occasions he is the re\"erse. He makes 
friends easily. The man who repeats a coarse stoiy in his 
presence need ne\Tr e,\pect recognidon from him. The 
offender thus digs his own gra\-e. There are times when he 
is pleased at being President. Then again, he ^^'ould like 
to quit it, and return to pri\-ate life. Sometimes he lacks 
decision. He wants to be re-elected, and he does not \N*ant to 
be. He has a well-developed faculty for seeing the humor- 
ous side of life, and has been known to make some unusually 
funny speeches. His faculty for remembering faces and 
names is not well developed. He is not o\Trstocked with 
dignity. He is more likely to address his acquaintances as 
"Brother" So-and-so, rather than to use the conventional 
prefix of "Mister." He does not mean to be impolite, nor 
is he, as a general thing, though at times a bit abrupt. He 
likes to ha\-e men about him who are lo>-al, yet he has not 
alwa\-s in the past shown an unfriendliness to the insurgents 
in Congress, and they are not classified as among those who 
are loyal to the part}-. In many respects. President Taft 
seems a medlev of contradictions. 



[^-0] 




THOMAS TAGGART 

ORMER Mayor of Indianapolis. Mr. Tag- 
gart, it would seem, has a natural tendency 
for engaging in politics. He was born in 
Ireland. This may serve as a good explana- 
tion for his political ambition. Mr. Taggart 
has carved his own way in the world. He 
entered upon a business career without the 
aid of any influential relatives or friends. 
When he came to the United States he was a bit of a lad, 
his family making their first home in this country at Xenia, 
Ohio. It was here that young Taggart got his first insight 
into American affairs, which to him represented hard work. 
After a few years in Xenia, a better position was offered him 
at Indianapolis. In the Indiana capital he pushed forward 
with unusual rapidity. It has always been a common say- 
ing, in and about Indianapolis, that "Tom Taggart made 
anywhere from one to one hundred new friends every day." 
This is probably an exaggeration, so far as the hundred is 
concerned, but when he went home at night there was never 
any doubt that he had more friends and acquaintances 
than when he started out in the morning. For several years 
Mr. Taggart, when entering man's estate, was a conspicuous 
figure about the large restaurant in the Union Station at 
Indianapolis. Here he met hundreds of persons every day. 
His affability and politeness never failed to leave behind a 
good impression. Those who met him for the first time 
remembered him when they saw him the second time. Affabil- 
ity, in Mr. Taggart's case, proved a most valuable asset. 
This was particularly emphasized when he entered the political 

[430I 



THOMAS TAGGART 

arena. As a hand-shaker he has had few equals in Indiana, 
and that State can be said to be the greatest commonwealth 
for political hand-shakers that can be found in any part of the 
countr>'. From the Union Station restaurant to the pro- 
prietorship of the Grand Hotel, one of the city's largest hos- 
telries, was a natural advancement. Almost every man is 
especially fitted for some particular vocation. To be at the 
head of a large hotel company, Mr. Taggart found, was to be 
in his natural element. 

Mr. Taggart enlarged his holdings as a hotel proprietor, 
becoming the head of the French Lick Springs Hotel Com- 
pany. He entered politics when quite young, his first office 
being that of auditor of Marion County, in which Indianapolis 
is situated. It is safe to make the assertion that he was a 
good official, as he was re-elected. All this happened in the 
four years from 1886 to 1890. In 1892 and 1894 he was 
chairman of the Democratic State Committee. In 1895, he 
was elected Mayor of Indianapolis, and held that office for 
six years, which means that he was elected for three terms, 
giving further evidence of the high confidence placed in him 
by the electors of the city. During his three successive terms 
as Mayor, Mr. Taggart's fame as a politician began spread- 
ing throughout the country. His pohtical opponents, the 
Republicans, pitted against him the best and strongest men 
of the party, but each time they went down to defeat. Mr. 
Taggart in some circles was regarded as invincible as a can- 
didate for the mayoralty. He no doubt could have been 
re-elected again and again, had he not declined further honors 
as the head of the municipal government. 

While :^Iavor of IndianapoUs, Mr. Taggart became a 
prominent factor, particularly in the pohtics of the State of 
Indiana, and Ukewise one of the managers of the party in a 
national sense. In 1904 he was made chairman of the 
Democratic National Committee, directing the campaign of 
Alton B. Parker, then the Democratic candidate for President. 

[431] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

That Mr. Parker failed of election was no reflection on Mr. 
Taggart's management. He did as well as any one else could 
have done at that time, and under the same circumstances. 
In the political affairs of Indiana, at the present time, Mr. 
Taggart is a force and a power, though holding no public 
ofhce. In his capacity as a private citizen he has a liking for 
"mixing in," thus keeping liis hold well upon the party dis- 
cipline of the State. As a public official he met every require- 
ment, retiring from all the offices he has held with the respect 
and confidence, not only of his own party, but of the fair- 
minded of his political opponents. 

Mr. Taggart is now in about the middle fifties. He has 
accomplished much for one who began life in a humble capacity. 
Mention has been made of his being a great hand-shaker. 
When acquiring this habit he schooled himself to the advan- 
tage of remembering faces and names. When starting out 
on a campaign it was soon discovered that he was so strongly 
equipped on these lines that it was difficult for his opponents 
to make any particular headway. He had them beaten almost 
at the start. In temperament he is quick, possessing an 
activity that is admired by everybody. He is not only quick 
in action, but in thought. He has his native Irish wit al- 
ways about him. He believes that "a soft answer turneth 
away wrath." He is a fighter, too, when a fight is a neces- 
sity, although he will walk a long distance to avoid one; yet 
when it comes to the "scratch" he is there "with the goods." 
One of his many striking characteristics is his habit of wear- 
ing his hat set well back on his head, showing a large expanse 
of intellectual forehead. He is always "Tom Taggart" to 
his political allies and opponents, but to his most intimate 
friends he is willing to be called simply "Tom." He does 
not assume to be other than what he really is. He has always 
been a good money-maker, which indicates a business ability 
of the kind that makes the "wheels go around." He is not 
quite six in feet height. He will weigh, probably, 190 pounds. 

[432] 



THOMAS TAGGART 

His only facial adornment is a mustache where the silver 
threads have crept in among the gold. He has often been 
referred to by his political admirers as "the bounding-bliie- 
eyed-boy-of-destiny." Of course, he knows he can never 
be elected President, nor has he thought of such a thing, 
having been bom in a foreign countr)'; but he is not without 
an ambition to gain higher political honors. He does not 
impress people as giving any particular thought to the sub- 
ject of dress, or prevailing fashions in man's attire, but he 
is usually seen clad in raiment bearing evidence of having 
been made from the best texture, and by the leading tailor in 
the community. He has proved a valuable citizen to Indian- 
apolis. He is interested in many of its industrial enter- 
prises. He is never too busy in managing political affairs or 
making money from his business to neglect what he regards 
as his duty toward the church, and the needs of the poor. 
There are few men in his home city who give more willingly 
or more generously to charity than Thomas Taggart. 



28 



[4331 



JOSHUA FREDERICK C. TALBOTT 




Representative in Congress from the 
Second District in Maryland. Mr. Talbott 
was born in Maryland, and is proud of it. 
He has reason to indicate with pride that he 
comes from a long line of distinguished an- 
cestors. He reached man's estate at about 
the time of the firing of the big guns at Charies- 
ton which raised the great disturbance from 
water's edge to water's edge. He took up the study of law 
in the midst of the great conflict, and two years afterward, 
in 1864, he felt that the matter could not be satisfactorily 
settled until he got out and took a hand in it himself. The 
family gun was hanging on the peg, and as viewed by young 
Talbott, there were places where this death-dealing instru- 
ment could be put to good use. Throwing the powder horn 
over one shoulder and the gun over the other, he struck out 
for the army of General Lee, and was soon in line with the 
muzzle of the fowling-piece pointing due north. The extent 
of the damage done by this youthful Marylander is not 
recorded, but it is presumed that if he had been permitted 
to do things as he wanted them done, at that time he might 
have turned the battlefield into a place of slaughter. Young 
Talbott did not crave for military office. He went in as a 
private and came out as one. After the historic meeting at 
Appomattox, he returned to Marj'land and took up the study 
of law where he had left off two years before. This was in 
1866. From that time to the present, Mr. Talbott has been 
more or less identified with Democratic politics in Maryland. 
He did not persist in fighting the war over after peace had 
been declared. He regarded the agreement made by Generals 
Lee and Grant as permanent, and was willing to abide by 
the results. Mr. Talbott is a friend of peace. He has ever 

[434] 



JOSHUA FREDERICK C. TALBOTT 

refrained from becoming a disturbing element, except when it 
"necessary to "do things" to the RepubUcan party m ^ 
State, and he has often done so He >s as happy m defea 
a-s he is in victory. He views life philosophically. His hrst 
^blic ofc wasVt of prosecuting attorney for Ba Umore 
Countv This ofhcc he held for four years. He was_ re 
nominated and defeated, which shows that there may be times 
even in a man's young career when he cannot "come bacL 
He was elected to the Forty-si.xth Congress in .876. He was 
"e-elected to the Forty-seventh and Forty-eighth. After si.v 
Tears of ser^•ice in the National Legislature, he was appointed 
[nsurance commissioner of the State of M^O'and. This 
oZ he resigned to be elected to the Fifty-third Congress. 
He c again he dropped from Congressional view until the 
m -ei'hth Congress, remaining through the Fifty-n nth, 
S tlut and is nmv sitting in the Sixty-first. Thus it will be 
seen that Mr. Talbotfs Congressional life has been in, out, 
^d n again. There were times when he refused to be a 
andir' which may explain some of the Umes he was ou^. 
Mr Talbott is as keen a politician as Maryland has pro- 
duced.' He fought the battles of the party as one of the ablest 
he enants ever'put in service by the late Senator .^rtluir P. 
Gorman. Senator Gorman was the master mind of Demo 
Srpolitics in his State. He was ^^--f^l^^;^^^ 
of the forces, and Mr. Talbott was ever loyal in his fidditj to 
that leader. WTien he is in politics, he plays the game scientifi- 
am Xo one in Mar>-land knows the intricacies of State 
poliUcs'better than he. His activity has for yea-been one 
of his many commanding characteristics.- He ,s "o a large 
man in stature, but above the average size in capability. As 
rcampagner, ke is a kind of whirlwind. He goes in to wm, 
and7h is t^nsuccessful, he has the satisfaction of knowing 
hat L performed the Job as well as it could have been done 
bv anv one else. He is a bit pugnacious and wiry. He is 
imng to yield to his poUtical opponents aU they are entitled 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

to, but not an iota more. He has on the tip of his tongue the 
official vote of every county in Maryland of both parties for 
the last quarter of a century. He knows the name of every 
political worker in the State, particularly in his own party, 
and at the same time keeps pretty close account of the results 
of the Republican workers. He is not a man to fuss and 
fume, and become unnecessarily excited. He prefers to get 
into the back room at political headquarters, where the real 
business is done, and from there carry on his campaign in a 
businesslike manner. Mr. Talbott has been so long in poHtics 
in Maryland that his name is almost a household word. It is 
believed there have been more babies named for him than for 
any other man who ever lived in the State, which is a pretty 
good sign that he is of a high class. No mother wants to 
name her offspring for a man who is not just what he should be. 
Mr. Talbott, as indicated above, is not particularly com- 
manding in his height and girth, but one does not notice this 
in consequence of his affability. He is always agreeable 
and polite to every one. No one has ever accused him of 
doing an ungentlemanly act. He believes in universal cour- 
tesy, even in the heat of political battle. He knows there are 
good men, honest and true, in both political parties; therefore 
his combats are political and not personal. He has a high 
regard for his political opponents, because he concedes to them 
the same right to their views that he insists on exercising 
for himself. Mr. Talbott's hair and mustache are now quite 
gray. He is seldom seen without glasses, sometimes the old- 
fashioned spectacles. He believes Baltimore to be the best city 
in the world. He swears by it, and also thinks its people are 
the salt of the earth. He doesn't travel about the country 
much, but is contented to reside at his modest home in the 
comparatively unknown town of Towson, which is practically 
a suburb of Baltimore. He is not believed to have any strik- 
ing hobbies ; if so, he conceals them from public view. There 
are few finer men in the country than Fred Talbott. 
i [436I 




CHARLES H. TAYLOR 

DITOR and proprietor of the Boston Glohe. 
Colonel Taylor is not a man who talks for 
himself, but prefers that his deeds should 
speak for him. Colonel Taylor is a product 
of Boston. It was in that city that he began 
his career. He has been the captain of his 
own fate. His first employment was that of 
a typesetter on a newspaper. Sticking type 
in those days was not, in his opinion, a continuous round of 
joy. He did not believe there was much of a future for him 
as a member of the craft. He was ambitious to be something, 
intellectually. He had obscr\'ed that some newspaper report- 
ers had become editors and proprietors of papers. He knew 
that to become a good reporter, it was not essential to have 
a classical education. He was as well educated as many 
other reporters whom he knew; therefore, why not become a 
reporter? This he did, and in the course of time he devel- 
oped into a good one. As he progressed in efficiency in his 
profession, he broadened his scope of action. He took kindly 
to politics. In time he held the position of private secretary 
to one of Massachusetts' governors. Some time after, he be- 
came a member of the State legislature, and to his credit let 
it be said, this was never held against him. He worked for 
the good of the State. In some respects, he was not averse 
to showing his fighting qualities. That was how he acquired 
the title of 'Xolonel." He did his part, as young as he was, 
in settling the controversy between the North and the South. 
After having filled many public positions, and always to the 
credit and satisfaction of those who had so honored him, he 

[437] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

concluded to start a newspaper, of which he would be the 
directing genius. And so he did. He established the Boston 
Globe, which was so conducted that thousands of readers be- 
came its steadfast friends. Year after year, the number of 
readers increased, and in proportion thereto so did Colonel 
Taylor progress in wealth and his paper in power and 
influence. 

The history of The Globe in Boston journalism furnishes 
one of the most striking evidences of the influence of the press 
throughout the country, but more particularly in New Eng- 
land. There are thousands upon thousands of newspaper 
readers in the New England States who are emphatic in de- 
claring that they swear by The Globe, and not at it. It would 
seem that Colonel Taylor has kept faith with his public to 
such an extent that the majority of his readers believe 
every word they see in his paper, even to the sometimes 
exaggerated statements of progressive advertisers. From a 
news point of view, they believe that if it is not seen in the 
columns of The Globe, it is not worth printing. It has never 
been Colonel Taylor's policy, as an editor and proprietor, to 
thrust sensationalism in the faces of his readers, unless it be 
by the use of startling headlines, which has always been one 
of the characteristic features of The Globe. Otherwise, it 
may be stated that he is universally conservative. Colonel 
Taylor prints a paper for Boston and the surrounding country. 
He knows his clientele. He has studied the situation, from 
both the business and the philosophical point of view. He 
knows what his readers want and the way they want it. Every 
community has its own likes and dislikes as to what kind of 
newspaper is preferred. What might suit Chicago would hardly 
be acceptable in Boston, and what is pleasing to the Boston 
public would be scorned, probably, in San Francisco or New 
Orleans. Colonel Taylor knows the business of publishing 
a newspaper as well as any other man in the United States. 
In politics, he has always been a Democrat, and The Globe 

[438] 



CHARLES H. TAYLOR 

has, with some two or three exceptions, consistently sup- 
ported the Democratic national ticket, though in 1896 there 
was a general "kicking over the traces." The Colonel could 
not subscribe to the doctrine of the Nebraska leader, but in 
later years he was again one of the recognized Democratic 
wheel horses of New England. 

Colonel Taylor is a man who is not much given to occupy- 
ing either the center or the approaches to the stage of pub- 
licity, so far as concerns himself. He is a conspicuous figure 
about Boston, and whenever, or wherever, he is seen walking 
in the streets of his native city, it is a common thing to hear 
persons remark: "There is Colonel Taylor, editor of the 
Boston Globe:' Nearly everj^body knows him because of 
his prominence. He can be found on almost ever>' work-day 
in his suite of offices in the Globe building, though for the 
past ten years he has, by gradual degrees, heaped the burden 
of directing the future of The Globe on the shoulders of his 
son, Charies H. Taylor, Jr., a capable and deserving young 
man. Colonel Taylor is of commanding personality, is prob- 
ably a little over si.x feet tall, wears a full beard, now a bit 
tinged with gray and parted in the middle, and he is ordinarily 
well groomed. He wears heavy eye-glasses in gutta percha 
frames, with cord attached. He seldom is seen without a 
heavy walking-stick. His clothes show the handiwork of 
an artistic tailoring establishment. He is one of Boston's 
first citizens. He possesses the necessary amount of dignity, 
but is usually democratic in his manners. He likes having 
about him at his midday meal, at Young's Hotel, a gathering 
of from six to ten gentlemen who are conversant with the 
up-to-date topics of the times. He is a close observer of men 
and affairs, but he feels more secure in forming his judgment 
if he has first had conferences with others. 



[439 




EDMUND H. TAYLOR, JR. 

'iSTILLER, of Frankfort, Kentucky. The 
name of Edmund H. Taylor, Jr., in the 
commercial world, especially in the manu- 
facture and distillation of high brands of 
whiskies, means a great deal more than 
can be set forth here. Kentucky has, for 
almost three-quarters of a century, been 
famed for its whisky products. Some will 
claim, especially Kentuckians, that good Kentucky whisky 
harmonizes with the beauties of the bluegrass. Present-day 
historians of Kentucky are agreed that to the constructive 
genius of one man the commonwealth owes its chief debt, 
not as the home of whisky, but the home of fine whisky, and 
that man is Colonel Taylor. Colonel Taylor is a man of 
striking individuality. He is a scholar, orator, writer, legis- 
lator, banker, distiller, country gentleman, and it may be said 
of him that he is a modern Beau Brummel. Colonel Taylor 
is a man of rare ability. He has done large things in the Ken- 
tucky whisky business, and has amassed a fortune. He has 
concentrated his life-work as a distiller to the single purpose 
of uplifting the whisky standard of Kentucky. Colonel 
Taylor's reputation as a distiller is symbolic of pure whisky. 
The Kentucky Court of Appeals, in its decisions, has written 
this reputation for Colonel Taylor into history. It will be 
remembered that after the passage of the so-called pure-food 
law, which provides for pure drinks also, there was a great 
hullabaloo raised as to "What is whisky?" Dr. Harvey W. 
Wiley, Chief Chemist of the Government, and the most poten- 
tial influence favoring the measure, rendered his opinion on 

[440I 



EDMUND H. TAYLOR, JR. 

the subject of "What is Whisky?" Attorney- General 
Bonaparte also gave his decision. President Roosevelt also 
took a hand in it. Last, but not least, President Taft wrote 
an opinion on "What is whisky?" practically reversing the 
opinions of President Roosevelt, the Attorney- General, and 
the Chief Chemist. Colonel Taylor is credited with having 
furnished President Roosevelt with data from which he ren- 
dered his decision. Colonel Taylor stands by the original 
opinion rendered by Chemist Wiley and indorsed by Mr. 
Roosevelt. 

Colonel Taylor has placed upon the market many famous 
brands of whisky. A number of them are named after emi- 
nent men, intimate friends of Colonel Taylor. Wherever the 
sign of "Old Taylor" is seen throughout the world, it means 
one of the famous brands of Colonel Taylor's product. There 
are others, but they are too numerous to mention ; suffice it to 
say, that all of the brands of his make are sold in almost every 
country of the world. 

Colonel Taylor is as well known in Europe as a great dis- 
tiller as he is in his own country. In Scotland, he is favor- 
ably regarded as the most progressive of American distillers. 
His distilleries in Kentucky are regarded abroad as the most 
complete in any country where the purpose is to distill only the 
genuine article. The architecture of his distilling plant is 
not unlike the old baronial castles of the historic Rhine. If 
there be anything in lineage, Colonel Taylor was predestined 
to make his mark. Coming of a family that produced John 
Taylor, of Carolina; Edmund Pendleton, the jurist; President 
James Madison, and President Zachary Taylor, his own great- 
grandfather and nine great-granduncles, all officers in the 
Revolution, it is not surprising that he "made good" from the 
beginning of his business career. Colonel Taylor spent much 
of his boyhood in Louisiana, with the Zachary Taylor branch 
of the family, where he was thrown with his cousin. General 
Richard Taylor, the President's son, one of the most accom- 

[441] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

plished and typical gentlemen of the old South. Colonel 
Taylor has been honored by public office in his State, having 
been a member of both branches of the legislature, and at one 
time Mayor of the city of Frankfort. He could have held 
more and higher offices, had he so desired, but his large 
business interests would not permit of his neglecting them 
even for the highest office in the country. Colonel Taylor 
comes of fighting stock. He possesses a suave and gentle 
exterior, but beneath it there is a nervous energy that works at 
high tension and truckles to no obstacle. This was forcibly 
illustrated at a time when he was Mayor of Frankfort. Adam 
Forepaugh visited Frankfort with his great aggregation of 
circus and menagerie, which he proposed exhibiting to the 
citizens without complying with the city ordinance which re- 
quired the payment into the city's treasury of a certain sum 
for the privilege. The showman positively refused to pay, and 
gave orders to his men to unload the paraphernalia. Colonel 
Taylor was informed of the conditions, whereupon he arrived 
on the scene prepared to have it out with the showman. He 
announced that if any of Mr. Forepaugh's men attempted 
to unload a car until the license money was paid, there would 
be trouble. His manner was positive, conveying the impres- 
sion that should a man attempt to unload a chattel, 
whether it be a lion, tiger, or a hundred-thousand-dollar prize 
beauty, something would happen. The situation became so 
strained that the Governor was compelled to call out the militia 
before peace was restored. Colonel Taylor won the day, 
and from that time on had the highest respect of the old show- 
man, as well as everybody else. 

Colonel Taylor was a potent factor in the building of the 
new State house. When this question came up a few years ago, 
the entire State was engrossed in the subject. Larger cities, 
like Lexington and Louisville, were clamoring that they should 
be made the seat of State government, thus taking it away 
from Frankfort. Colonel Taylor was then a member of the 

[442I 



EDMUND H. TAYLOR, JR. 

State legislature, and his valiant work saved the day for 
Frankfort. Colonel Taylor has been the friend and intimate 
associate of all of Kentucky's eminent men for the past forty 
years or more. Colonel Taylor, before he had reached his 
twenty-fifth year, was one of the master minds in the dis- 
tilling business in Kentucky. At that time he used the title 
"Junior," which became so identified with his business 
enterprises that it is still retained. In manners. Colonel 
Taylor is often referred to as a Chesterfield, combining, as he 
does, with his virile commercial activity, the most treasured 
traditions of antebellum days. He is an ideal host at his 
beautiful home, "Thistleton," in the suburbs of Frankfort, 
regarded as one of the most palatial mansions in the United 
States. He is known in Kentucky as the best-dressed man 
in that State. In truth, his reputation as such extends far 
beyond the confines of the State. Colonel Taylor's dominat- 
ing hobby, outside of his business, is his love of dress. It 
is believed there is really not a high-class tailor in either New 
York or Chicago who has not at some time been honored with 
Colonel Taylor's patronage, and they are all pleased to have 
his name on their books. Colonel Taylor is a rich man, and 
can therefore indulge his taste in this direction. He has had, 
at times, as many as one hundred suits of clothes. A new suit 
comes at least once ever)' one or two weeks. The small 
fortune he thus spends on clothes each year may seem an 
incredible vagary to those who do not know the man. He is 
always a well-dressed man. According to the highest sar- 
torial authorities, Colonel Taylor knows how to wear his 
clothes. With all this wonderful variety of clothes, Colonel 
Taylor leans to quiet elegance in dress, and it is this 
quality of elegance and distinction in appearance which makes 
him a conspicuous and noted personage wherever he may be 
seen. His generosity is equal to his splendid ability. His 
charity and public beneficence are as notable as is his career. 
Colonel Taylor is a man of high qualities, great courage, and 

[443] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

of invincible will power. His ample fortune enables him to 
dispense in munificent style the old-fashioned Kentucky hos- 
pitality in which he has always felt a delight and pride. 

He has traveled much in Europe, particularly in the 
United Kingdom. He is as famihar with economic conditions 
of some European countries as he is with those of his own 
State. His name has appeared much in the public prints in 
this country, chiefly in consequence of his high position in the 
commercial world. Like most Kentuckians, Colonel Taylor 
has a fondness for highly bred horses. It is seldom that he 
is not a conspicuous personage at Churchill Downs, Ken- 
tucky's great race-course, on the day the Derby is run. Derby 
Day in Kentucky is much like it is in England, it being the 
great racing event of the season. It is not only this; it 
is a place of assemblage for the fashionable people as well. It 
is a social event of marked distinction among Kentuckians, 
as their Derby Day is among the English. During the ses- 
sions of the legislature, Colonel Taylor's home is the scene 
of frequent social entertainments that are seldom surpassed 
in any city in the United States. Nothing seems to give him 
more pleasure than to entertain his hundreds of friends. No 
distinguished traveler comes to Kentucky who does not make 
a pilgrimage to the beautiful estate of Colonel Taylor. His 
journey to the Blue Grass State would be incomplete without 
having been a guest of Colonel Taylor. 



[444] 




AUGUSTUS THOMAS 

AMERICA'S foremost playwright. Mr. 
Thomas was born in Missouri, but he has 
been away from that State so long that it 
is no longer a necessity to "show him." In 
a few respects, Mr. Thomas and the Em- 
peror of Germany are somewhat alike. They 
do not look alike, however — Mr. Thomas 
bears a resemblance to a cherub, which the 
Kaiser does not. Emperor William is reputed to be a handy 
man at many things; so is Mr. Thomas. In addition to being 
a playwright of national and international fame, Mr. Thomas 
is one of the really great orators of the United States. He can 
paint pictures, and paint them well. At one time, he was a 
well-known cartoonist. He was likewise a newspaper reporter 
once. He could navigate a ship across the Atlantic Ocean, 
if necessary, and in event the craft should become disabled 
through the breaking of any woodwork, Mr. Thomas would 
be on the job as the ship's carpenter. He can not only build 
a house, but he has built more than one. At one time he was 
a singer in a church choir in St. Louis. Mr. Thomas was 
born in the Mound City, in about i860. His father was a 
physician, which it seems never met with the approval of the 
son, but it is not believed the latter was consulted. The first 
money young Thomas earned was as a page in the Missouri 
legislature. This was the starting-point of his successful 
career. Having got mixed up with politicians and newspaper 
correspondents, young Thomas began taking on intellectual 
weight. He was about the liveliest page that Jefferson City 
had ever known. It is a part of Missouri history that he was 
the most intelligent page that ever scurried about the desks 

[445] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

of statesmen — would-be or hoped-to-be statesmen. He was 
observing, and after two sessions of the legislature, his family 
arrived at the conclusion that his capabilities were entitled to a 
broader field of action. 

He believed that in the National House of Representa- 
tives at Washington he would further shine, or, rather, his 
family and friends thought as much, whereupon he was 
appointed to- the position of a page, which necessitated his 
associating with a higher strata of statesmanship than he had 
found assembled within the classic precincts of Jefferson City. 
There were great doings in Congress when young Thomas 
was a page. In those days, James G. Blaine, Samuel J. 
Randall, Benjamin H. Hill, of Georgia; A. H. Buckner, of 
Missouri; Galusha A. Grow, of Pennsylvania; Daniel W. 
Voorhees, of Indiana; James B. Beck, of Kentucky; Sunset 
Cox, of New York; Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts, 
and hosts of others were among the foremost political leaders 
of the time. It was in the later sixties and early seventies, 
before the reconstruction period had passed. Thomas was 
then in his element. He worshiped at the shrine of these 
great men. He loved to listen to their speeches. For a 
youngster, he was something of an orator himself; in fact, 
had gained the sobriquet oif the "Boy Orator." He, with 
other pages, used to play "Congress." Thomas was the 
floor leader. His first great speech, as a member of the 
Pages' "Congress," was upon the subject of "Unity between 
the North and South," in which he filled to the top the "bloody 
chasm," and forever hid from view the "bloody shirt." It 
was an effort said to be worthy of one of mature age. It would 
seem that all this time young Thomas was fitting himself for 
the work of a dramatist, although he might not, at the time, 
have known it. When the Republicans took possession of the 
House of Representatives, with none but that party on watch, 
he went back to St. Louis. He then concluded that he would 
like to become identified with the management of railways. 

[446J 



AUGUSTUS THOMAS 

He was willing to work from the ground up. He started in as 
a brakeman. He became prominent in the labor union, and 
at eighteen years of age was the youngest master workman 
in the countr}'. His knowledge of parliamentary law, which 
he had acquired while a page, stood him well in hand in the 
labor union meetings. He soon tired of twisting the brakes 
on freight cars. He then turned his attention to newspaper 
reporting and glided gently into the field of art. Hence, Mr. 
Thomas is an artist. In his younger days, he was also an actor. 
He had a fondness for the stage, and eventually set about 
writing plays. The first he wrote, which attracted universal 
attention and brought him the nucleus for a fortune, was 
"Alabama." After this came other plays, ''Colorado," 
"Arizona," "The Embassy Ball," "The Harvest Moon," 
"The Witching Hour," and many others, which elevated the 
name of Mr. Thomas in stage literature to the highest point 
attained by any dramatist in the United States. Nearly all 
of his plays have been unusually successful. They have 
brought him a handsome fortune. Mr. Thomas is about 
the only playwright in the United States who knows some- 
thing more than play-writing. He is one of the leading mem- 
bers of the Democratic party in New York City and State, 
and could have been in Congress years ago had he so de- 
sired. As a public speaker, he ranks among the best in the 
country. No man in America is more in demand as an after- 
dinner speaker than he. His wit is keen, and his satire de- 
lightful. Mr. Thomas is good to look upon. He is a man 
of pleasing countenance, with a highly intellectual face that 
denotes an even and jovial temper. He is always entertain- 
ing, yet as plain as an old shoe. He takes great interest in 
the political affairs of the country, and is ever in touch with 
the best progressive thought of the times. In every respect, 
Augustus Thomas is a remarkable man. His home life is as 
ideal as any ever depicted by him in his best plays. He lives 
as he writes, hoping to make his tribe better for his example 

[447] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

and work. In dress he is a bit indifferent. He affects the 
broad-brimmed hat, and might be mistaken, when in the 
city, for one of the foremost agriculturists of the country. 
He is not alone a student of politics and of the stage, but he 
delves deeply into all, or nearly all, of the economic and 
scientific subjects. Most people who know him well call him 
" Gus," which does not offend him. 



1 448] 




ROBERT J. TRACEWELL 

OMPTROLLER of the Treasury. Mr. 
Tracewell can properly be termed one of the 
real "Watchdogs of the Treasury." It is his 
duty to interpret the law properly, so that 
no person can get a dollar out of the Treasury 
unless it has been so authorized. He is a 
busy man, protecting the hard-earned cash of 
the United States Government, and no one 
knows better than he of the thousands upon thousands of 
people who are trying to get money from Uncle Sam, many 
of whom are not entitled to the same. Mr. Tracewell is a 
native of Indiana. He served one term as Representative in 
Congress from the New Albany district. It was never his 
intention to adopt a political career, but in his case political 
honors were thrust upon him, much against his will. If he 
ever had any ambition looking toward a seat in Con- 
gress, he had no reason to believe that he would be able 
to reach the goal of this ambition, as the district in which he 
lived was overwhelmingly Democratic when political con- 
ditions were normal; and he is a rock-ribbed, old-fashioned 
Republican. There came a split in the Democratic organiza- 
tion, resulting in two Democratic candidates for Congress being 
named. The Republicans thought there might be a chance 
to elect one of their faith, if wisdom were exercised in pre- 
senting the right kind of a man to the electorate. For a time, 
the Republicans were a bit at sea as to whom they should 
select as their standard-bearer. The name of young "Bob" 
Tracewell was suggested, and met with immediate approval. 
He was waited upon to know if he would accept the nomina- 
tion if tendered. At first, he declined. Later, he yielded to 
29 [449] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

party pressure; shying his castor into the political ring, he 
went forth upon the hustings. He had never before known 
what a good political speech he could make. His most inti- 
mate friends seemed unaware of this necessary qualification 
until he had demonstrated what he could do on the stump. 
For about eight weeks he practically closed up his law office, 
and "beat the bushes" in every county of the district. He 
whooped things up in general. He made the Republican 
party realize that it was alive in the Congressional race, and 
so it was. \Vlien the votes were counted, it was shown that' 
the young New Albany lawyer had triumphed with a good- 
sized plurality. 

He served but one term, and his record as a faithful repre- 
sentative of the people was not questioned. At the following 
election, there were no longer dissensions in the Democratic 
party, therefore there was no use of young Trace well again 
entering the race, as he knew that a re-election would be out of 
the question. Among the early appointments made by Presi- 
dent McKinley was that of Mr. Tracewell, Comptroller of the 
Treasury. If Mr. McKinley had lived to the present time, he 
would never have had any cause to regret his selection. Mr. 
Tracewell has since served under two Presidents, and to their 
entire satisfaction. He has likewise served under four Secre- 
taries of the Treasury. This speaks volumes for the efficiency 
and integrity of Mr. Tracewell. He has served almost fifteen 
years in this position, longer, it is believed, than any other man 
from the formation of the Government. It is not infrequently 
that some men appeal to the courts from the decision of the 
Comptroller, hoping to have more favorable action; but the 
Comptroller's rulings are usually sustained. Mr. Tracewell 
is not a man who advertises himself. In truth, he is just 
the kind of man who does not advertise himself at all. In the 
first place, he requires no advertising, and in the second, such 
proceeding would be repulsive to him. If there be anywhere 
a modest, unassuming man associated with the Government 

[450] 



ROBERT J. TRACEWELL 

service, it is believed Mr. Tracewell is that individual. If a 
prize were offered for modesty, the chances are he would be 
the winner. 

Mr. Tracewell is probably a bit past fifty years of age. 
He is tall and straight. He is well-proportioned, and prob- 
ably weighs between one hundred and seventy-five and two 
hundred pounds. 

He likes to wear large hats: In the first place, because 
he has a large head; but his hats, in their general dimensions, 
are usually large, wide-brimmed, and high-crowned. Some 
people might mistake him for a modern agriculturist, if not 
a genuine farmer. He has never impressed his associates 
with the belief that he is given to devoting any particular part 
of his time to the latest styles in man's attire. He is inchned 
to look more to quality of the goods than to the pattern or the 
cut. He is not the man to pour out his confidences to those 
he does not know. He hews close to the lines laid down by 
Mr. Shakespeare, that a still tongue denotes a wise head. 
Mr. Tracewell is loyal to his friends and he has many of 
them. He is a bit old-fashioned in everything he does, except 
performing the duties of his office, and in that he is up to date 
in every respect. WTiile Mr. Tracewell has a number of assist- 
ants in his bureau, there are not many minutes of the working 
day when he is not at his post of duty. This would indicate 
that he is as willing to earn his salary as the Government is to 
pay it. He may occasionally knock off a bit early in the after- 
noon to attend a ball game, but this is seldom. It is not neces- 
sary to tell him that a public office is a public trust ; he knows 
it. He has made so good a Comptroller that there is no de- 
sire on the part of any one to have him removed. If he ever is, 
it will be because the Democrats have come into power. He 
will not then be removed; he will resign. He inclines to the 
belief that to the victor belong the spoils, although he respects 
the civil-service law, which, however, does not extend to his 
office. 

[451] • 




OSCAR W. UNDERWOOD 

Representative in Congress from the 

Ninth District of Alabama. Mr. Underwood 
is one of the representative younger men in 
politics from the South. He is a native of 
Kentucky, and was born the second year of 
the Civil War. Therefore he has not the op- 
portunity to point with pride to what he did in 
bringing the great struggle to a termination. 
The truth is, it was all over a long time before he knew any- 
thing about it. When he went from Louisville, Ky., to Bir- 
mingham, Ala., it was with the avowed purpose of settling 
down to the practice of law in the hope of having a list of 
clients that would every day bring him a lot of money. He 
knew he could not expect them to come more than once unless 
they had confidence in his legal attainments. He quickly satis- 
fied them on this point, the result being that every morning, 
when he reached his offices, there were the welcome clients wait- 
ing his arrival. Possessing an agreeable personality, Mr. 
Underwood found it comparatively easy to make friends and 
to keep them. There is a kind of foolish sentiment in Ala- 
bama which has for its theory that if you were not born in 
the State, you have no right to be there; yet Alabamans are 
given to doing a little boasting when any of their former citizens 
achieve distinction in other States. Mr. Underwood, however, 
was soon able to live down this prejudice, and in good time he 
was received as though he had been born on that sacred soil. 
He soon became one of them, and they were glad that he had 
come among them. He had been in the State but a few 
years when some good friend passed out the word that in Mr. 
Underwood there was good material for a Congressman. He 
blushed to the back of his neck when this was announced to 

[452] 



OSCAR W. UNDERWOOD 

him, and it was a long time before he would permit his modesty 
to be overcome. He had never thought of going to Congress, 
and was a bit timid about permitting his name to be used in 
connection with the office. He quickly realized that many of 
his friends and neighbors were the possessors of persuasive 
eloquence that was enticing. He asked to be given a few days 
to think the matter over, which was conceded him. 

He had little money with which to make a political 
campaign, but this did not deter him from yielding to the 
entreaties of his friends. He was informed that he would 
have no opposition for the nomination, and that as a nomi- 
nation was equivalent to an election, it would require no 
money. He was first elected in 1894, and has been sent 
back every two years with great regularity. He has become 
an important factor on the Democratic side of the House. 
He was designated as the party whip of the minority. He is 
the second Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, 
and should the Democrats control the next House of Repre- 
sentatives, with Mr. Clark of Missouri as Speaker, Mr. Under- 
wood would be the natural heir to the Chairmanship of the 
Ways and Means Committee. Mr. Underwood is not the 
man to push himself to the front unless he is needed. He 
doesn't make much noise, but he is a good worker. He is as 
well posted on the economic affairs of the country as any man 
in Congress. He is a believer in reducing the tariff schedules 
on almost every product, including iron, steel, and coal, 
though he does live in Birmingham, the iron and steel center 
of the South. Mr. Underwood is usually up early in the 
morning when he has reason to believe that an attempt is going 
to be made by some designing person to open the Treasury 
gates for an outflow of coin into the pockets of those who are 
not entitled to it. Mr. Underwood is an industrious gentleman, 
and lets very little grass grow under his feet. It is not intended 
to convey the idea, by making the above remark, that it is 
because he always rides in an automobile. He may occasion- 

[453] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

ally ride in one, but it belongs to some one else. His salary 
as a Representative in Congress might permit his owning one, 
but it does not justify the expense of chauffeur and up-keep, 
therefore Mr. Underwood usually walks, or rides in the street 
cars. 

In appearance Mr. Underwood is quite boyish. He has 
never in his life worn a beard. He has a heavy head of dark 
hair which he brushes close to his head, parting the same very 
close to the middle. When he first appeared in Congress, he 
was so youthful in looks that many thought him too young 
to comply with the constitutional limitation of twenty-one 
years of age. The fact is, he was ten years older. He is close 
to six feet tall, and will move the beam at about one hundred 
and eighty pounds. He has grown a bit stocky, however, in 
the last five or six years. He has a pleasing smile for all ac- 
quaintances, and a generous handshake for all his friends. 
Mr. Underwood is conservative in all things. He never makes 
a statement that is not in accordance with facts. He doesn't 
care how rich a man may become, but he does object, after 
a man becomes rich, that he should assume that he can ride 
rough-shod over poor people simply because he is rich. He 
certainly has no use for the so-called vulgar rich. His methods 
of life are simple and plain. He has some few idiosyncrasies, 
but they are of a harmless nature. He doesn't believe a man 
is a bad citizen because some other man says he is. He 
must have corroborative proof. Mr. Underwood is another 
member of Congress who has a fondness for bulldogs. The 
uglier they are in the face, the more they are admired by the 
Alabaman Representative. Mr. Underwood has his clothes 
made in Birmingham, going upon the theory that he wants to 
patronize home industries, although, as he looks at it, the 
tailors of Birmingham are better than those in New York, and 
there is a difference in the price. When he is your friend, he 
is your sure-enough friend. There are higher honors in store 
for Mr. Underwood. 

[454] 



FRANK A. VANDERLIP 




President of the National city Bank in 
New York. The business career of Mr. 
\'andcrlip is probably one of the best illus- 
trations that may be cited of what a man 
can do if given opportunity. His rise in the 
affairs of the country has been really brilliant. 
There are few men in the United States, 
to-day, whose ability to grasp situations and 
conditions shows more keen intelligence than that of Mr. 
Vanderlip. He was bom at Aurora, 111., about the time of 
the close of the Civil War. Twenty years following, he was 
a reporter on the Chicago Tribune. It can be said to his 
credit that he was a good reporter. He was always observing 
things. He showed a decided taste for writing on financial 
subjects. This characteristic seemed to have been well de- 
veloped in his early years of newspaper work. He had not 
been long on The Tribune until his fine intellect came under 
the observation of Mr. Joseph Medill, who was at that time 
owner and editor of the paper. Chicago was fast becoming 
the second financial center of the country. The Tribune was 
one of the leading papers of the West. Mr. Medill saw the 
necessity of having as good a financial department in his paper 
as was printed in any other. He assigned Mr. Vanderlip 
to the position of financial editor. In this capacity he made 
his mark at the very beginning. He exhibited a knowledge 
of finance that seemed astonishing in one of his years. He 
soon became the friend of every prominent banker in Chicago, 
as well as of bankers in the various cities where The Tribune 
circulated. His financial department came to be regarded 
by financiers as authoritative. He was always conservative, 

[455] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

yet never hesitated to print the truth, though it might be dis- 
pleasing to some speculators whose chief business was to 
disturb financial conditions and bring about an unsettled state 
of affairs. He did all that was in his power to drive this class 
of men out of the banking business whenever they put their 
heads above the surface. He knew that no community could 
be prosperous unless the banks were honestly managed. Mr. 
Vanderlip's newspaper career in Chicago was a credit to jour- 
naUsm in that city. 

When Lyman J. Gage was selected by President McKinley 
to become his Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Gage, who had 
long known Mr. Vanderlip, offered him the position of private 
secretary. Mr. Gage had for a number of years been presi- 
dent of the First National Bank of Chicago, during most 
of which rime Mr. Vanderlip was the financial writer on 
The Tribune. Mr. Vanderlip, after serving only a few months 
as Secretary Gage's private secretary, was promoted to the 
position of an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. It did not 
take him long so to familiarize himself with the Treasury De- 
partment that he was practically able to direct the financial 
policy of the Government. This was high distinction for him— 
a distincrion which came through merit and not through 
favoritism, as subsequent events have shown. Upon the 
retirement of Mr. Vanderlip as an Assistant Secretary of the 
Treasury, he was designated by Secretary Gage and President 
McKinley to make a trip abroad for the purpose of studying 
to what extent American goods were being sold in foreign 
countries. He wrote valuable reports of his travels, detail- 
ing conditions as they had come under his observation. His 
reference to the fact of the bad packing and shipping of Ameri- 
can goods, together with their cheapness in quality, had much 
to do with American manufacturers giving more attention to 
remedying this condition, if they hoped to increase their for- 
eign trade. Mr. Vanderlip was among the first to sound the 
tocsin of alarm on these lines. That he did a good service 

[456] 



FRANK A. VANDERLIP 

for American commerce, there is no doubt, though he was at 
the time criticised for giving utterance to these truths. Dis- 
honest manufacturers did not like what he said, but was for 
the betterment of commerce in general, though it might not 
have pleased some manufacturers who were guilty of the 
identical things that he charged. 

Mr. Vanderlip's next important position was that of vice- 
president of the National City Bank, which he held for some 
years. When James Stillman resigned from the Presidency, 
Mr. Vanderlip was unanimously chosen as his successor. 
This placed Mr. Vanderlip among the youngest of bank 
presidents in the United States, and the head of the largest 
financial institution in New York, or in the country. Mr. 
Vanderlip began getting gray when quite a young man. 
His hair is now quite white, but his mustache is almost black. 
The blending of these colors makes him a conspicuous-looking 
man. He has developed into one of the best speakers on 
financial affairs in the countr\'. There have been few meet- 
ings of the Bankers' xA-ssociation of the United States in recent 
years at which he was not one of the principal speakers, so 
assigned by the general committee. He is probably about six 
feet in height, and will tip the beam at from one hundred and 
eighty to two hundred and ten pounds. He is always neatly, 
though modestly, attired. He doesn't dress any better to-day 
than he did when he was a financial writer in Chicago, yet his 
salary is probably twenty-five times as large as it was then. 
In hospitality he is distinctively a m2,n of the West. His 
success has not changed him. He is always full of business, 
therefore he is never idle. He is easy to approach and con- 
siderate of those who are less fortunate than himself. He has 
won his spurs by good, hard work, and deserves them. 



[457] 




DR. HARVEY W. WILEY 

HIEF of the Bureau of Chemistry of the 
Department of Agriculture, practically the 
nation's chemist. Dr. Wiley has come much 
into the limelight, though not purposely 
occupying the center of the stage during the 
past few years. It would be unfair to say 
that Dr. Wiley sought to make himself con- 
spicuous. The reverse is the truth. Dr. 
Wiley's labors have been directed along lines for the better- 
ment of humanity, particulariy the citizens of the United 
States. His ideas were not new. Germany and England 
had been the pioneers. He has gone upon the theory that if 
the United States is to be a strong Government, it must accord 
fair and generous treatment to its people. He believes that if 
the people are given unwholesome food, the country, as a 
nation, is going to be the sufferer. Dr. Wiley, it would seem, 
is more kinds of a man than the ordinary citizen. This 
would make him an extraordinary citizen. After all, it is 
the point of view that is taken. The man who was on the road 
to fortune as a manufacturer of impure food, and was caught 
in the act by Dr. Wiley, is not inclined to the belief that the 
chief chemist of the country is a desirable citizen. Upon the 
other hand, those who believe in the manufacture and dis- 
semination of only the simon-pure, blown-in-the-bottle unadul- 
terated foods, acclaim his sincerity, giving him full credit 
and high praise for doing all that he has done, all that he 
wants to do, and all that he may be able to do, wholly and 
impartially for the benefit of every man, woman, and child in 
the republic. 

That he has made many enemies must be admitted; 

[458] 



DR. HARVEY W. WILEY 

that he has hosts of loyal friends and followers, no one can 
deny. He has withstood the attacks made upon him with 
fortitude and good humor. From observing his beaming 
countenance, it would be difficult to imagine that thoughts 
other than the most pacific had entered into his fertile 
mind. He is the acme of amiability. If he was ever an- 
noyed while being the target for the arrows and big sticks 
of the manufacturers of spurious food, drugs, and drinkables, 
he has been able to conceal it in so complete a manner that 
he must be recognized as possessing more than average ability 
on these lines. The Doctor holds to the belief that "he who 
controls himself is greater than the one who controls victorious 
armies." In this respect the Doctor won his first battle by 
keeping his temper. President Roosevelt, President Taft, 
and Secretary- of Agriculture Wilson have received thousands 
of communications demanding that he be not only dismissed 
from the Government ser\ice, but that he be ignominiously 
"fired." The Doctor was made aware of the great volume 
of complaints, but to all these he turned a deaf ear, ever wear- 
ing his perennial smile. It would seem to be the consensus 
of opinion that Dr. Wiley has accomplished a greater good 
for a greater number of people than any other man in his time. 
Proceeding upon this theor\', it can readily be seen the Doctor 
has followed a well-estabhshed rule of political economy, 
therefore it seems a bit strange that anybody should dislike 
him, for he is an upbuilder of humanity and not one who 
tears down, though the "interests" have been powerful 
enough with those "higher up" to undo much of the good he 
has accomphshed. 

Some years ago, the Doctor came into additional notoriety 
by establishing what was joculariy termed by the irreverent 
press as "the poison squad." In other words, he was charged 
with feeding a class of young men on certain foodstuffs 
which had been "doctored" by the manufacturers— what was 
alleged to be impure products. Some people are unkind 

[459I 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

enough to say of Dr. Wiley that he does not always practice 
what he preaches— to be more explicit, he refuses to eat a 
certain mixture of food products which he recommends to 
others. Whether this is really the truth may never becojiie 
known, but, if one may judge from the Doctor's fine, health- 
ful, vigorous appearance, there is but one conclusion to be 
reached, and that is, he is no more careful of what he eats 
himself than of what he recommends to others. That branch 
of commercial life conducted by gentlemen who provide 
liquids for the quenching of the public's thirst— particularly . 
the whisky manufacturers— it is not believed will be willing 
to lay flowers at the grave of the Doctor when the final sum- 
mons may come. The consumer, however, will be wilHng to 
perform this sad service in recognition of his great labors in 
behalf of the ''real thing." Dr. Wiley despises shams as 
much as he does adulterated foods. He is a good, hard, 
manly fighter. He took up the people's cause and won it for 
them. 

Dr. Wiley was born in Indiana, but on the outside of 
the literary circle, that State having achieved fame as the 
habitat of a large contingent of the real, up-to-date literary 
lights of the West. The Doctor's birthplace was on the banks 
of the Ohio, near Hanover, where is located the oldest and one 
of the formidable institutions of learning in that common- 
wealth, and where he was educated. For a time he was 
professor of chemistry in the De Pauw University, at Green- 
castle. He was some time in the service of the Government 
before his pecuHar talents were discovered. If Dr. Wiley has 
political convictions, that is, partisan affiliations, he has 
never projected them into his official duties. He has served 
under Democrats and Republicans alike, but as chemistry 
is a science, he has been acceptable to all, regardless of political 
pull. Dr. Wiley was born some time previous to the abolition 
of slavery, but, being a bachelor, it is in keeping with the 
eternal fitness of things that he should be the sole custodian of 

[460] 



DR. HARVEY W. WILEY 

the knowledge of his exact age. In a social way he may 
be classified along with the lion, his presence being much in 
demand at social functions. He is an entertaining conversa- 
tionalist, has a high sense of humor, and is not without a gen- 
erous store of witticisms, which might lead one to believe that 
some of his forebears were among those who came to America 
from the Emerald Isle. He is an accomplished linguist, 
speaking three languages fluently. As a chemist of high abil- 
ity. Dr. Wiley's reputation extends throughout Europe. 

Dr. Wiley would never be mistaken for a Beau Brummel. 
He cares little, if anything, for the prevailing rules of fashion. 
He dresses well, but not fashionably. He may sometimes com- 
mit the offense of wearing a tall hat with a short coat, like 
the business men of London in and near Threadneedle Street; 
and that may be one of the reasons why he is disliked by the 
American manufacturers of adulterated foods. The Doctor 
makes a good speech, no matter what may be the subject. 
Those who attend banquets where the Doctor is a guest are 
not without confidence in the quality of all that is served. 
The man who would set table impurities before Dr. Wiley 
would make the one fatal error of his life. Dr. Wiley's chief 
diversion is automobiling. He has owned three cars since 
their use became fashionable, and the last car is always larger, 
more expensive, and more complete than the one cast aside. 



[461] 




JAMES WILSON 

^URING the winter of 1908, William Howard 
Taft was busy Cabinet making. The months 
> between the time he was elected and the time 
he was inaugurated President he spent select- 
ing nine men to advise him in matters per- 
taining to the running of the Government. 
Also, he was to go to Panama to look over 
the canal. Political gossips were busy guess- 
ing at the personnel of the Cabinet. Several men had been 
chosen. Rumor had it that Taft would make a clean sweep, 
and that no member of the Roosevelt Cabinet would be 
retained. 

But there was one man concerning whom there was doubt. 
Opinion was evenly divided as to whether James Wilson, 
Secretary of Agriculture, would stay. Many thought he 
would, because he had but a few months to serve in order to 
break the record of continuous service in the Cabinet. Others 
thought he would go. A few predicted Taft would keep him 
in long enough to enable him to establish a record and then let 
him go. 

In midwinter, Taft was to sail from Charleston, S. C, for 
Panama on a United States cruiser. It was then that Wilson's 
friends got to work. A Western agricultural journal took up 
the cudgels. Across its first page, in large type, it printed one 
sentence, addressed to the farmers of the country. This sen- 
tence read : 

"If you want Jim Wilson to remain as Secretary of Agri- 
culture, write to President-elect Taft at Charleston, S. C, 
and tell him so." 

Appended was the date of Taft's sailing from the famous 
South Carolina city. 

[462] 



JAMES WILSON 

Those who were with Taft on that trip say that the letters 
indorsing Secretary Wilson for reappointment had to be car- 
ried aboard the cruiser in hampers. There were bales of 

them. 

Up to that time Taft had not been quite certain in his own 
mind about Wilson. The letters settled all doubt. Wilson 
was reappointed. 

Wilson is the only foreign-bom member of the Cabinet. 
He first saw the light of day in Ayrcshire, Scotland, x\ugust i6, 
1835. A few years later his parents brought him to America. 
In 1855, he went to Iowa and settled in Tama County. This 
earned for him the sobriquet, ''Tama Jim," by which he is 
known in Iowa to-day. 

First, last, and always, James Wilson is a farmer. He was 
once a member of the Iowa legislature. In 1872, they sent 
him to Congress. But for all that, he remained a farmer. 
He is a farmer to-day, in spite of his thirteen years' service in 
the Cabinet. That is one reason for his success. 

The principal causes are, however, his directness and his 
conservatism. The one he gets by nature. The other he 
has because he is a Scotchman. Above all, he is canny, very, 
ver}' canny. 

When Wilson entered the Cabinet on March 6, 1897, with 
the rest of the official Cabinet of President :McKinley, the 
Department of Agriculture was operated at a cost of less than 
$3,000,000 a year. For the fiscal year 1910-11, nearly 
$18,000,000 was appropriated by Congress for its maintenance. 
And at that. Senator Money, of Mississippi, a Democrat, 
arose on the floor of the Senate and said Congress was not 
giving that department enough money ! 

Congressional appropriations furnish a fair estimate of the 
value of a department's work. Therefore it may be said that 
as a buildcr-up of the Department of Agriculture, James 
Wilson is no slouch. 

But that is nothing as compared with the actual work he 

[463] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

is doing. Most public men around Washington are more or 
less short-sighted. Better say they are biased. In this re- 
spect they resemble New Yorkers. They are too close against 
the wall to see over it. Wilson is not one of these. He works 
for the farmer all the time. Other phases of the work of his 
department excite the newspaper editors, the poHticians, and 
the members of Congress. Wilson pays Httle or no atten- 
tion to them. Day in and day out he is working to help the 
farmer. And, to start with, he never misleads the farmer. 
He is an intensely practical man. The scientists of the De- 
partment of Agriculture will tell you this. Sometimes the 
results of an experiment on certain farm products will look 
fine to the scientists. But Wilson fails to get excited. He 
tells them to try it over and over again. And when he passes 
on it it is more than apt to be right. 

Not long since Wilson addressed a farmers' convention at 
St. Louis. The whole convention was throbbing with the 
''back to the farm" idea. At last the train bearing Wilson 
arrived. He was met by a delegation and escorted to the 
convention hall. There he made a speech. 

He told his auditors that the city man who thought he could 
buy a few acres and successfully farm them was a fool. Farm- 
ing was a business, he said, not a pastime. If a man were a 
trained farmer, farming would net him a good living. If he 
were not, the money he spent in buying and stocking a farm 
was thrown away. That was not what more than half of the 
convention wanted to hear. But it was what Wilson knew 
to be the truth. So he told it. 

A high official of the Department of Agriculture travels 
a good deal. On the trains he meets many men. In the 
smoking-cars a drummer starts the conversation by telling the 
Department of Agriculture man his line of business. Then 
this man says: 

"I am one of Secretary Wilson's hired men." 
Invariably, this Department man says, the travelers want to 

[464] 



JAMES WILSON 

know what has become of such and such a one of Secretary 
Wilson's experiments. All of which shows how close Wilson 
is to the rank and file of America. The whole country is 
watching the Department of Agriculture. One man may 
be interested in meat inspection, another in the cotton crop, 
another in the pure-food crusade. But sooner or later, the 
long arm of the Department of Agriculture reaches every man. 

The man may be Hving in a two-by-four flat in a big city, 
spending half his time on the road. But, lurking in his breast 
is the desire to get back to the country. He wants to invest 
his savings in a five-acre bit of ground one of these days, and, 
in the meantime, he likes to think about improved methods 
of cultivation. It is part of his dream. 

Of the things Wilson has brought about since he became 
Secretary of Agriculture, the pure-food law and the meat-in- 
spection law are best known in the general public mind. In 
the former he had the able assistance of Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, 
Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry. But it was Wilson that 
pushed it through. 

Yet the farmers care nothing about that. Some of them 
know about the cattle quarantine laws, but not all of them. 
Yet they do know about the improved methods in farming 
that Wilson's men and Wilson's experiment stations have 
been and are teaching in every section of the United States. 
They know there is a practical farmer at the head of the 
Department of Agriculture, a man who makes a lot of money 
out of his own farms in Iowa, and they respect and value his 
opinions. 

Until a few years ago the farmers were the only ones who 
knew about Wilson. But of late, the manufacturers of food 
products have got an inkling as to what manner of man he is. 
They formed his acquaintance through the pure-food law. 

At first it was thought Wilson would run mad on this ques- 
tion. It was so popular and the powers vested in him by 
Congress were so great that the manufacturers trembled. 
^° [465] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

Then they found that Wilson was not going to hurry. They 
saw he realized what a wholesale disruption of business would 
mean, and that he was going slow. Then they made another 
mistake. They thought he would be "easy." 

In appearance, Wilson is one of the most grandfatherly of 
persons. He wears a gray beard and a slouch hat, except 
upon such occasions as good form requires him to wear a high 
silk hat. He speaks very slowly and very deliberately. He 
looks Hke a farmer. 

In the administration of the pure-food law Wilson has had 
hard work. No end of political and business influence has 
been brought to bear on him. Yet he has never been swerved 
from his duty. Delegations of manufacturers and their 
attorneys have called upon him. Many of them were "smart" 
men, accustomed to having their way and to handling diplo- 
matic situations. 

Wilson sits back and lets them have their say. Then he 
tells them what the Department intends to do. And he always 
tells them the truth. 

Talleyrand said once that the acme of diplomacy was 
fooling the other man by telling him the truth. This is Wilson's 
method. Time and again, apparently in the face of his own 
interests, he has told powerful manufacturing concerns that 
in certain circumstances the Department would do certain 
things. Until recently they have never believed him. Now 
they always take his word. 

Not long since the bleached flour question was of moment. 
Wilson issued an ultimatum to the effect that the practice had 
to be stopped. The millers threatened a resultant increase in 
the price of wheat and flour. Wilson told them that if, at the 
expiration of six months from the date of the hearing at which 
they were present, the practice was not a thing of the past, he 
would proceed against them in the courts. 

Powerful political influence was brought to bear. Wilson 
went off on a vacation. The day before the expiration of the 

[466] . 



JAMES WILSON 

six months George P. McCabe, soUcitor for the Department 
of Agriculture, went to the Secretary. He had a wad of pro- 
tests from manufacturers in his hands. He told the Secretary 
that the next day marked the expiration of the six months, 
and asked for instructions. 

" Go ahead," was all Wilson said. 

Secretary Wilson lives a quiet life in Washington. With 
him are his son, who is his secretary, and his daughter. He 
goes in society comparatively little. Beyond the requirements 
of the official social routine he rarely ventures. Most of his 
evenings are spent with personal friends. Various phases of 
farming usually form the opic of conversation. 

Wilson's cautious nature saves his subordinates many 
humiliations. In their enthusiasm they often want to give 
publication to the results of many experiments. They lay 
the matter before Wilson, and he takes it under advisement. 
Invariably the combination of the canny Scot and the ex- 
perienced farmer is in operation. Wilson always wants to 
know if it is practical. If it is not, it is useless, so far as his 
department is concerned. 

The chances are that Wilson will remain in the Cabinet 
as long as he pleases, provided a Republican President is in 
the White House. In the language of the streets, he has a 
''cinch on his job." He is the best Secretary of Agriculture 
the country ever knew, and if his resignation were called for 
every farmer in the country would lend his voice to a protest. 



[467] 




WOODROW WILSON 

RESIDENT Princeton University. Mr. Wil- 
son is recognized, not alone as one of the 
foremost educators of the country, but as a 
gentleman who is abreast of the times on all 
public topics he has few rivals. Mr. Wilson 
was born in Staunton, Va., in the middle 
fifties. For a while he practiced law in 
Atlanta. Many of the most prominent insti- 
tutions of learning in the United States have conferred degrees 
upon him. These include Harvard, Yale, Brown, Johns 
Hopkins, Rutgers, Lake Forest, and other like colleges. For 
a while he was professor of history and political economy 
at Bryn Mawr. Later, he was professor of jurisprudence 
and politics at Wesleyan University. He is the author of 
quite a number of books. His writings on Congressional 
government — a study of American politics — advanced Mr. 
Wilson's reputation to an enlarged degree. He has also con- 
tributed much to the literature of the Division and Reunion 
of the States, all incident to the conflict of 1861-65. His 
history of the American people takes rank among the best 
that have been written. Mr. Wilson is entitled to the high 
position he occupies in consequence of his strong mental 
equipment. He has been a worker from his boyhood days. 
It is said of him, that when a student he took the lead in 
almost everything. This, however, was not confined ex- 
clusively to affairs inside the college, but on the outside as 
well. He was one of the early advocates of more and better 
outdoor sports for students, although he has always drawn 
the line, indicating a high sense of the happy medium between 
the cultivation of the mind and the body. Mr. Wilson's 
trend of thought runs strongly toward politics of the highest 
quality. He is not a dreamer, but a man of practical ideas, 
seeing the world in its various phases. He is a man of large 

[468] 



WOODROW WILSON 

influence in the educational world, because he has been 
prominent in it for the past twenty years or more. It has 
never been charged that he is an extreme partisan. He was 
brought up in the old school of Southern Democracy; there- 
fore, has never been particularly identified with any of the 
new ideas of government that have become somewhat preva- 
lent since Grover Cleveland was President. Mr. Cleveland 
and Mr. Wilson were close personal friends, li\'ing for several 
years at the same time in the town of Princeton. 

Mr. Wilson, while well informed on the fundamental 
principles of law, did not find the practice of it as agreeable 
as he may have believed he would when entering upon its 
practice in Atlanta. Probably he did not have sufficient 
patience to await the coming of clients in remunerative num- 
bers. He is not only a wise thinker, but has always been 
a man of action. He loves politics, because he hopes it may 
be within his power some time to lend a helping hand to the 
people. He is not hostile to corporations because they are 
corporations, but he goes upon the high principle that as 
corporations are created by the State they should be held in 
check by this creative power. Mr. Wilson is not an alarmist 
in any sense of the word. He is cool-headed, considerate, and 
brings into play, upon ever)' political subject, as well as educa- 
tional ones, a mature judgment, indicative of soundness. His 
name has frequently been mentioned in connection with the 
Presidency of the United States — as a candidate of the Demo- 
cratic party. Col. George B. Harvey, the directing genius 
of Harper's Weekly, Harper's Monthly, and The North 
American Review, picked Mr. Wilson as the proper man to 
lead the Democratic party in 1908. These publications had 
much to do with bringing the name of Mr. Wilson prom- 
inently before the country'. In September, 1910, he was 
chosen as the Democratic candidate for Governor of New 
Jersey. Should he be elected, he will undoubtedly loom up 
as a most formidable candidate of the Democratic party for 

[469] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

President in 191 2. New Jersey is said to be the State of 
trusts. It is not understood that Mr. Wilson proposes attempt- 
ing to drive these vast combinations of wealth out of the State, 
but if it comes within his power, he will see that the people 
will be in full possession of their rights and privileges, as well 
as the corporations. 

The personal side of Mr. Wilson is not less interesting 
than that which is seen by the public. He is not a man to 
make a show. He is always dignified, yet easy of approach 
when necessity requires. He has accomplished much for one 
of his years, and, be it said to his credit, all that he has 
done has been brought about in a quiet and unostenta- 
tious manner. Everybody in Princeton knows him, and 
everybody likes him. He has the Southern method of daily 
greetings to his friends, often calling those he knows best 
by their first names. He lives a quiet life, free from anything 
that savors of self -exploitation. Mr. Wilson is, perhaps, seen 
at his best in his own home. The manner in which he dis- 
penses hospitality is of the old-fashioned kind. He is a man 
whom the pubhc would pick out as one far above the average 
in intellect, though he might not be personally known. His 
face is smoothly shaven, and he wears heavy gold-rimmed 
spectacles, which give him the appearance of being older 
than he is. He is quick in his movements, and has a hearty 
handshake for all old-time friends. He is neariy always on 
the side of the under man in his fight against obstacles. If he 
were asked to name any special hobby he might have, he 
would be at a loss to give an answer. If he has any, he doesn't 
know it. He is not unlike the average man who is honest; 
is feariess, and has the courage to do the right thing, and the 
wisdom to do it at the right time. He is always well dressed, 
but would never attract attention because of his dress. It is 
not believed he ever read a fashion journal in his life. Wood- 
row Wilson typifies the best that is in the progressive and 
honest American citizen. 

[470] 




BENJAMIN F. YOAKUM 

'H AIRMAN of the executive committee, St. 
Louis and San Francisco Railroad. Mr. Yoa- 
kum has, \^^thin the past decade, risen to 
a conspicuous position as one of the leading 
railroad managers of the United States. Mr. 
Yoakum was bom in Texas, and is proud 
of it. He has never regarded favorably the 
opinion expressed by General Sheridan con- 
cerning Texas. He not only knows that it is the largest 
State in the Union, but, as he views it, it is one of the best. 
Mr. Yoakum began his railroad career in a humble capacity. 
It is more than probable that Mr. Yoakum, when a bit of a 
lad, trudged about over the plains of Texas just the same as 
any other barefoot boy. He had an inquisitive turn of mind. 
When older persons said in his presence that such and such 
is the case, young Yoakum was not necessarily convinced. 
He wanted to know why it was so and so. He has a knack 
of studying things for himself. In time, he got up a bit in the 
world, and after looking over the field of industrial endeavor, 
he concluded to take up railroading. The only thing he 
knew about railroading in his younger days was gained from 
seeing the trains go by. He thought they were fast in those 
days, when, in truth, as compared with the speed of the average 
train of to-day, those he saw in his youth were running very 
slowly. The first particular authentic information made 
public regarding Mr. Yoakum as a spoke in the railway wheel 
was along in the middle eighties, when he was made general 
manager of a small railroad in his native State. Following 
this, he became associated with roads of greater importance. 
He was young, and naturally was proud of his first position as 

[471] 



130 PEN PICTURES OF LIVE MEN 

general manager. Notwithstanding the road was not many 
miles in length, he maintained the dignity of his position in 
mingling with general managers of greater systems by con- 
tending that though his road was not as long as theirs, it was 
every bit as wide. Mr. Yoakum worked his way to the top 
by his individual efforts. He became connected with the 
Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad, of which Oscar G. 
Murray, for many years president of the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad, was general freight and passenger agent. In truth, 
Mr. Murray began his railroad career in Texas on this road 
as a local station agent. Mr. Yoakum was another of the 
bright young men of this growing system, and it was not long 
until he was at its head. 

It was about ten years ago that Mr. Yoakum began attract- 
ing attention as a ruling factor in the reorganization of the 
St. Louis and San Francisco system. He was likewise identi- 
fied with the reorganization of the Chicago, Rock Island and 
Pacific. For a time, these two systems were operated as a 
''Community of Interests," but later were separated. It was 
through the influence of Mr. Yoakum that these two proper- 
ties were advanced in importance throughout the Southwest. 
After the separation of the systems, Mr. Yoakum, who was 
president of the St. Louis and San Francisco road, became 
chairman of the executive committee, which means that 
he is practically the head man of the system. Mr. Yoakum 
grew rich as he climbed the railway ladder. It is not said of 
him that he acquired his wealth by means other than honor- 
able. He is not classified among the "criminal rich," nor 
is he held up as a "malefactor of great wealth." There is 
no man in the United States more simple in his ways and 
democratic in his manners than Ben Yoakum. He sprang 
from the people. He is not one of those railroad dignitaries 
who believe the railroads own the Government. He knows 
that railroads owe their existence to the people, and they 
could not be maintained were it not for the patronage given 

[472] 



BENJAMIN F. YOAKUM 

them by the people. He takes the position that it is the duty 
of managers of railroads to come more in contact with the 
producing millions. It is true Mr. Yoakum journeys over the 
lines of his road in a private car, and in doing so he finds it 
convenient to stop his car at many stations and drive by car- 
riage or automobile into the farming districts, coming directly 
in contact with those who produce the raw materials which are 
to be transported to market over his road. He has made a 
study of the relationship that should exist between the rail- 
ways and the farmers, especially. He has written much upon 
this subject, a great deal of which has been printed in some 
of the leading magazines. 

Mr. Yoakum is a pleasant man to meet. It will be a long 
time before he will arrive at the age where it will be neces- 
sary to retire from active business. He is a red-blooded 
youngster, who has done things and will continue doing things 
that are of worth. Like all others, he has made some mis- 
takes, but he has never been known to make two mistakes 
of the same nature. He has a natural propensity for making 
money. He is a splendid organizer, and it is said of him 
that no man ever served under him who was not loyal to him. 
He is not a man who talks much, but when he does, he 
talks straight to the point. He has a fondness for rural life, 
and lives most of his time in the country. He is the owner 
of two or three fine farms, one not far from New York, and 
the others in the Southwest. He takes much delight in the 
breeding of fine horses; this, in fact, is one of his hobbies. He 
is as fine a type of man as is to be found in the United 
States. He has a full, round face, which usually wears a 
beaming smile, and which is further adorned by a dark mus- 
tache. Women would call Mr. Yoakum a handsome man, 
and so he is. He is destined to become one of the really great 
railroad managers of the country. 



[473 1 



DEC 7 1910 



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